Sopela, also known as Sopelana, is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, northern Spain.The town is roughly 820 hectares in area, located in the comarca Mungialdea on the north east side of Bilbao and due east of the Nervión river estuary. In the municipality, other former towns like Larrabasterra are now merged to make Sopela larger. The population is 11,185 people, as recorded in the 2003 census.