VacationSelector
The Parthenon on the Acropolis, Athens
AthensThe Parthenon on the Acropolis
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river

Photos: Athens by Ranjeet Kumar Singh, Pexels License; Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Athens 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 Athens for

  • culture and sights
  • nightlife
  • beaches

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

Choose Bilbao for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • food and drink

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. Athens 70, Bilbao 45: Athens leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Athens 78, Bilbao 81: Bilbao leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Athens 88, Bilbao 62: Athens leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Athens 80, Bilbao 54: Athens leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Athens 64, Bilbao 75: Bilbao leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Athens 85, Bilbao 78: Athens leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Athens 58, Bilbao 55: Athens leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Athens 66, Bilbao 79: Bilbao leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. Athens 55, Bilbao 47: Athens leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Athens 56, Bilbao 44: Athens leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Athens 64, Bilbao 53: Athens leads by 11 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Athens 42, Bilbao 33: Athens leads by 9 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Athens and Bilbao.

Your match

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

Athens
Best match
67match

Wins on culture and sights and nightlife with your weighting.

Bilbao
59match

Wins on getting around and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Athens in July

34 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
7 mmrain in the month
13 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
AthensBilbao

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Athens: 1991-2020 normals, Athens / Athenai / Pláka (2.2 km from centre). Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAthensBilbao
Official languageGreekSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation74 m19 m
Main airportAthens Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport (ATH)20 km from centre173 non-stop destinationsBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAthensBilbao
City population643,452351,124
People per km²16,4998,440
Museums within 10 km8817
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months1 month

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Athens 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.