Activities at Gran Hotel Domine Bilbao or nearby

• Accommodations:

  • 131 rooms and 14 suites set out over 5 floors

  • Each floor has one suite, except the fifth which has 10, six of them with great views of the Guggenheim.

  • Wifi Internet access

• Dining options:

  • Restaurant Beltz the Black - Beltz The Black, directed by Chef Alberto Vélez, with Ramón Berriozabal, winner of national awards for gastronomy
    as consultant, is sure to appear on any list of the city’s great restaurants. A minimalist and austere decoration, with pure forms transmitting the idea of basic essentials and natural materials like stone and oak. The interior design concept of the restaurant Beltz The Black could be described as a Basque interpretation of minimalist art, but a minimalism that does not neglect the comfort essential in any restaurant. The Beltz table designed by Fernando Salas, the Miranda chairs by Altther, the dishes by Villeroy & Boch, the Grand Prix silverware by Achille Castiglioni, the lighting by Iguzzini and small details such as the saltshaker signed by Mariscal and the ashtray by Marianne Brandt, all ensure an impeccable and tasteful tableware.

  • Le Café Metropol (Cafeteria) - The interior design of Metropol Le Café is an homage to the Bauhaus and all those designers from the 20s in the 20th century who had an optimistic view of the future, set their hopes in progress and created “adequate, useful and beautiful” objects. The pieces, designed by Gropius, Mies van der Rohe, Le Courbouisier and Marcel Beuer are still in style after almost a century and continue inhabiting contemporary interiors. Le Café Metropol is impregnated with that spirit, expressed in black and white using stainless steel as a material that reflects the faith in modern technology that moved those designers. The reflection in the mirror that covers one of its walls adds the note of colour.

  • Splash & Crash (Cocktail Lounge) - Splash & Crash begins physically in the hotel hall but its floor starts the transition, changing from marble to stainless steel, where footsteps no longer sound the same. Its pillars also change from prisms to rounded forms, and the hall’s flat ceiling breaks out in bubbles. This transition is just a metaphor for the transformation all guests experience when entering a cocktail bar: formalities are forgotten, and they suddenly feel like acting more spontaneously, inspired by the freedom brought by the environment and physical space.

  • 24-hour room service

• Meeting facilities:

  • Meeting space for up to 500 people

• Sports/Relaxation facilities and services:

  • The Gym - A small glassed-in area where guests can stay in shape and executives keep stress at bay. With its sauna, Turkish bath and wellness room, the gym helps you relax as well as keep fit.

  • The Atrium (Cypress Fossil) - The Cypress consists of 14 modules weighing some 6 tons each. Assembled, they form a structure 26 metres high, two and a half meters in diameter and 90 tons in weight. Set in the inner patio, it is as tall as the building, rising from the ground to the skylight that crowns the roof terrace. The piece creates an inner landscape that compensates for the absence of views from the interior rooms. The Cypress is one of the elements that make the GHDB unique. It was made at Pere Casasnovas’ sculpture studio in Barcelona.

  • Buenas Vistas Terrace (The Lookout Terrace) - Guests have the use of a large terrace which houses the dome that crowns the hotel’s atrium. Designed in the form of a skylight made of clear glass skylight, it lets daylight into the building and is a source of light for the rooms facing the atrium.

  • Txoco Tranquilo Corner (Reading corner) - a library created including titles related to design, architecture and interior design and a selection of related magazines.

  • The shop - Situated in the lobby, GHDB's shop offers a selection of objects not to be looked upon as souvenirs, but desirable for their good design and because they have something to transmit to their buyers. Here it's possible to find an exclusive gift for those that want to take away something to remember and with a bit of surprise to them.

• Other facilities or services:

  • Altas Reuniones (Business Centre)

ABOUT BILBAO

396 Km (246 miles) N of Madrid, 100 Km (62 miles) W of San Sebastián

Bilbao is Spain's sixth-largest city and biggest port. It has a number of interesting secrets to reveal, as well as good food, and as a rail hub it serves as a center for exploring some of the best attractions in the Basque country. Most of the city's sights can be viewed in a day or two. Many visitors flock here only to see the controversial new $100-million Guggenheim Museum, designed by American architect Frank Gehry and called "the beast" by some locals because of its bizarre shape. From afar, it resembles a gargantuan sculpture, with a tumbling boxes profile and a 131m (430-ft.) long ship gallery.

Bilbao is the industrial hub of the north and the political capital for the Basques. Shipping, shipbuilding, and steel-making have made it prosperous, so there's no shortage of bankers or industrialists. Its commercial heart, bursting with skyscrapers and sky cranes, hums with activity. Among cities of the Basque region, it has the highest population (around 450,000); the metropolitan area, including the suburbs and many surrounding towns, is home to over a million inhabitants.

Bilbao was established by charter June 15, 1300, which converted it from a village (pueblo), ruled by local feudal duke Don Diego López de Haro, into a city. Aided by water power and the transportation potential of the Nervión River, it grew and grew, most of its fame and glory coming during the industrial expansion of the 19th century. Many of the city's grand homes and villas for industrialists were constructed then, particularly in the wealthy suburb of Neguri. The most famous son of Bilbao was Miguel de Unamuno, the writer/educator more closely associated with Salamanca.