VacationSelector
The Texas State Capitol under a blue sky, Austin
AustinThe Texas State Capitol under a blue sky
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river

Photos: Austin by LoneStarMike, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Austin 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 Austin for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • wellness

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

Choose Bilbao for

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

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. Austin 30, Bilbao 45: Bilbao leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Austin 66, Bilbao 81: Bilbao leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Austin 40, Bilbao 62: Bilbao leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Austin 65, Bilbao 54: Austin leads by 11 points.
Nature & outdoors. Austin 57, Bilbao 75: Bilbao leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Austin 58, Bilbao 78: Bilbao leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Austin and Bilbao are level on 55.
Getting around. Austin 30, Bilbao 79: Bilbao leads by 49 points.
Shopping & style. Austin 45, Bilbao 47: Bilbao leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Austin 33, Bilbao 44: Bilbao leads by 11 points.
Live music & performing arts. Austin 77, Bilbao 53: Austin leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Austin 40, Bilbao 33: Austin leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Austin and Bilbao.

Your match

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

Austin
50match

Wins on live music and the arts and nightlife with your weighting.

Bilbao
Best match
59match

Wins on getting around and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Austin in July

36 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
49 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 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
AustinBilbao

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Austin: 1991-2020 normals, Camp Mabry/Austin City Asos (3.7 km from centre). Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAustinBilbao
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation149 m19 m
Main airportAustin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)13 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAustinBilbao
City population961,855351,124
People per km²1,2178,440
Museums within 10 km2117
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C-1 month

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Austin 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. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.