Bilbao - A New Place to Meet

Bilbao is the poster child for European city regeneration, thanks to the Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim Bilbao museum, which opened and was inaugurated on October 18, 1997 by King Juan Carlos I of Spain; single-handedly put this Basque settlement of 350,000 souls firmly back on the travel agenda. The striking museum has been the catalyst for improvements in Bilbao event venues and hotels, with the result that tourism numbers jumped from 25,000 in 1996 to 700,000 today. Bilbao remains the Basque Country's principal industrial center. New developments such as its Abandoibarra and Zorrozaurre areas are continuing to energize Bilbao.

The main travel portal, Bilbao Airport (BIO) had a Santiago Calatrava-designed terminal opened in 2010 and is now seeing more than four million passengers per year. It is six miles north of the city center and has service from all over Spain, as well as the rest of Europe.

Chief among convention venues, Bilbao Exhibition Center, which is in the nearby town of Barakaldo, has 2,702,330 square feet of space in six exhibition pavilions, as well as a shopping mall, two hotels, an 180,000-square-foot conference center, a 415,000-square-foot atrium and the Bizkaia Arena with 18,000 seats.

The meetings-ready hotel at the convention center is the 203-room Novotel Bilbao Exhibition Center, which has eight meeting spaces of its own. Hotel venues in Bilbao central are the 172-room Melia Bilbao, which has five meeting spaces, the largest able to host up to 300 persons; the stylish, 64-room Petit Palace Arana Bilbao, which has one meeting space for up to 50 persons; and the Silken Gran Hotel Domine Bilbao (which faces the Guggenheim and the Jeff Koons' artwork Puppy) is trendy and has a stunning atrium for events; is the first five-star and flagship of Silken Hotels. The GHDB expresses a contemporary concept that avoids ostentation and promotes fun. There are 145 rooms offering the maximum possible comfort and a decor created to reflect the history of the finest Interior design. It has a versatile big space which can accommodate 500 people or 20, through which passes from a transparent surface to establish small intimate spaces, through a sophisticated system of partitions.

Unique function spaces in the city include the Euskalduna Conference Centre and Concert Hall, which has a 2,164-seat auditorium, 61-seat theater, a gallery, an exhibition hall and 12 meeting rooms; Alhondiga Bilbao, an events space in a former, 1909 wine warehouse, which has been co-designed by Philippe Starck, opened in 2010 and contains a cinema, library, auditorium and a restaurant, among other spaces; Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, which is a fine art museum with the Chillida Hall for 450 persons, a 206-seat auditorium and Mongrovejo Hall for 120, among other spaces; the 1890 opera house Teatro Arriaga Antzokia, which has a main theater for 1,206 persons, a foyer for 250, a main hall also for 250 and two meeting rooms; and the Museo de Pasos de Semana Santa de Bilbao, which chronicles the history of Easter celebrations in the city, is in another old wine warehouse and has gallery space and a mezzanine for events.

The Basque Country is famed for its cuisine, perhaps most notably tapas, or as it is called in this region, pintxos. It is quite hard to go wrong food-wise here. Great restaurants for pintxos choices include Atea and El Huevo Frito, or The Fried Egg. Other notable establishments include Aizian, inventive Bascook and equally inventive, stylishly designed Extanobe.

So when you are looking for a change in pace and seeking something unique for your meeting or congress, Bilbao is the place. For more information on Bilbao or Basque Country, please visit Bilbao Tourism  or Basque Country Tourism

 

Juanita E. Gaynor (http://i-meet.com/jegaynor)

President & CEO

Ellegant Affairs by Juanita (http://www.ellegantaffairs.com)

i-Meet.com is the worldwide business community for people who plan meetings and events.  With over 108,000 members in 175 countries, i-Meet brings professional networking, online marketing, and social tools to create awareness and a voice for the industry.

I’ve Been There is a travel history and sharing application for planners and enthusiasts.

Tourist Office of Spain – Chicago - One of 33 worldwide offices of TURESPAÑA, Spain’s government tourism promotion authority based in Madrid, TOS in Chicago is the branch office in the USA responsible for marketing the business, incentive and meeting tourism product. TOS Chicago acts as a liaison between suppliers and DMC’s in Spain and the buyer/planner in the USA. 

Meet In Madrid ~ Take your meetings to the next level!

Located in the middle of Spain, beautiful Madrid is the capital and largest city in the country. The city's geographic location denotes its central role in Spanish politics, economy and culture, as it serves as the residence of the Spanish monarch, the richest region in Spain, and the home to many of the country's – and Europe's – top museums and attractions. With over seven million residents in the metropolitan area, it is also the 3rd largest city by population in the European Union, after London and Berlin.

In Madrid, the present and future are built on the past. During Spain's Golden Age, Madrid's culture and arts flourished. This period in history introduced the city's breathtaking Baroque and neo-Classical architecture, inspiring Madrid's many artistic geniuses such as Picasso and Miró, as well as its literary heroes such as Cervantes and the "Father of Spanish Playwrights" Lope de Vega. Madrid also served as the home and inspiration to great American writer Ernest Hemingway.

Not only is Madrid an ideal city for pleasure and leisure travel, it's also a world-class meeting destination. It comes as no surprise that the city hosts more than 4,000 conventions and meetings each year and attracts over 700,000 business visitors annually. After all, it boasts nearly 80,000 hotel rooms, more than five convention centers and expo facilities, and a never-ending list of cultural attractions. Plus, Madrid is home to the offices of 90 percent of the major companies operating in Spain, making it the obvious choice for showcasing products and services.

Also benefiting event organizers and business travelers in Madrid is the easily-accessible Madrid-Barajas Airport. Located just 12 kilometers northwest of central Madrid, it was voted Best Airport in the 2008 Condé Nast Traveler Reader Awards, thanks in part to its recently expanded terminal space and top-notch customer amenities. Madrid-Barajas offers service to hundreds of domestic, European and international destinations and handles the majority of Spain's transatlantic flights.

Upon arrival, guests need not travel far to find some of Madrid's largest and most impressive event facilities. Just five minutes from the airport, the sleek, avant-garde Municipal Convention Centre offers 30,000 square meters of space for conventions, tradeshows, presentations and more. Meanwhile, in the heart of Madrid's Casa de Campo Park, El Recinto Ferial spans over 70,000 square meters of indoor and outdoor meeting space. Additionally, the Palacio de Congresos de Madrid welcomes up to 2,000 guests from a convenient location that's within walking distance of over 10,000 hotel rooms.

Always on the cutting edge, the city of Madrid has plans to expand its inventory of convention facilities with the opening of the International Convention Centre in 2011. Located in the new financial and business area, it will be the largest meeting venue in the country at over 70,000 square meters. Fitting of such a ground-breaking facility, the International Convention Centre will be housed in a massive semicircle-shaped building, symbolizing that the sun never sets in Madrid.

Aside from its large-scale convention facilities, Madrid offers a wide range of unique meeting venues perfect for more intimate events and gatherings. The iconic Reina Sofia Museum is not only home a modern collection of such masterpieces as Picasso'sGuernica, but is also a fantastic venue for private events. With its 600-square-meter screen and room for up to 450 people, IMAX Madrid lends itself well to powerful presentations and seminars. Or, give guests a true taste of the city by treating them to dinner and a show at Corral de la Morería, a widely-known flamenco venue that's also listed in the New York Times bestseller 1,000 Places to See Before You Die.

One of Europe's largest financial centers, Madrid is a major center for international business and finance. The city has also recently experienced major growth in the service sector, with the Madrid-Barajas Airport playing a key role in the economy. Madrid is also home to several public and private universities, including the Complutenese University of Madrid, one of the oldest universities in the world, and the Autonomous University of Madrid, one of the top-ranked public universities in Spain.

So when you need world class destination for your event, meeting or congress, Madrid is the place. For more information on Madrid and other available activities, please visit: http://www.spain.info

Juanita E. Gaynor (http://i-meet.com/jegaynor)

President & CEO

Ellegant Affairs by Juanita (http://www.ellegantaffairs.com)

i-Meet.com is the worldwide business community for people who plan meetings and events.  With over 108,000 members in 175 countries, i-Meet brings professional networking, online marketing, and social tools to create awareness and a voice for the industry.

I’ve Been There is a travel history and sharing application for planners and enthusiasts.

Tourist Office of Spain – Chicago - One of 33 worldwide offices of TURESPAÑA, Spain’s government tourism promotion authority based in Madrid, TOS in Chicago is the branch office in the USA responsible for marketing the business, incentive and meeting tourism product. TOS Chicago acts as a liaison between suppliers and DMC’s in Spain and the buyer/planner in the USA.