Bilbao Airport — Bilbao, Spain

Bilbao Airport serves Spain's Basque Country from a site north of the city center, sitting at 138 feet of elevation with two runways handling the region's busiest air traffic. The terminal building, known locally as La Paloma for its resemblance to a dove in flight, was designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and opened in 2000, becoming a recognizable landmark alongside Bilbao's famous Guggenheim Museum. Bilbao transformed itself over recent decades from a declining industrial port city into a major cultural and tourism destination, and the airport has grown accordingly to handle rising visitor numbers. The Basque Country's distinct language and culture set the region apart from the rest of Spain, and Bilbao serves as its largest city and main economic center. Mountainous terrain surrounds much of the area, giving flights into Bilbao a scenic approach over green Basque hillsides. Frequent rain rolling in off the Bay of Biscay shapes the local weather for much of the year, a pattern shared with the nearby coast toward San Sebastian.