VacationSelector
The Adelaide skyline and the footbridge over the River Torrens, Adelaide
AdelaideThe Adelaide skyline and the footbridge over the River Torrens
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river

Photos: Adelaide by Ardash Muradian, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Adelaide or Bilbao?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Adelaide for

  • beaches
  • families
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Adelaide’s own page.

Choose Bilbao for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Bilbao’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Adelaide 68, Bilbao 45: Adelaide leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Adelaide 72, Bilbao 81: Bilbao leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Adelaide 48, Bilbao 62: Bilbao leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Adelaide 42, Bilbao 54: Bilbao leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Adelaide 66, Bilbao 75: Bilbao leads by 9 points.
Day trips. Adelaide 60, Bilbao 78: Bilbao leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Adelaide 70, Bilbao 55: Adelaide leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Adelaide 57, Bilbao 79: Bilbao leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Adelaide 44, Bilbao 47: Bilbao leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Adelaide 40, Bilbao 44: Bilbao leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Adelaide 63, Bilbao 53: Adelaide leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Adelaide 42, Bilbao 33: Adelaide leads by 9 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Adelaide and Bilbao.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Adelaide
56match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Bilbao
Best match
59match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Adelaide in July

16 °Cdaytime high
8 °Cnight-time low
72 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
14 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Bilbao in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
54 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
AdelaideBilbao

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Adelaide: 1991-2020 normals, Adelaide (West Terrace / ngayirdapira) (3.1 km from centre). Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAdelaideBilbao
Official languageEnglishSpanish
CurrencyAustralian Dollar (AUD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9:30, UTC+10:30 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number000112
Elevation1 m19 m
Main airportAdelaide International Airport (ADL)6 km from centre35 non-stop destinationsBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAdelaideBilbao
City population1,387,290351,124
People per km²1,0718,440
Museums within 10 km1317
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months1 month

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Adelaide or Bilbao somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.