VacationSelector
The Palais des Papes and the cathedral, Avignon
AvignonThe Palais des Papes and the cathedral
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river

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

Avignon 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 Avignon for

  • live music and the arts
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Bilbao for

  • food and drink
  • nightlife
  • beaches

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. Avignon 22, Bilbao 45: Bilbao leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Avignon 57, Bilbao 81: Bilbao leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Avignon 69, Bilbao 62: Avignon leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Avignon 30, Bilbao 54: Bilbao leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Avignon 70, Bilbao 75: Bilbao leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Avignon 92, Bilbao 78: Avignon leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Avignon 45, Bilbao 55: Bilbao leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Avignon 62, Bilbao 79: Bilbao leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Avignon 38, Bilbao 47: Bilbao leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Avignon and Bilbao are level on 44.
Live music & performing arts. Avignon 68, Bilbao 53: Avignon leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Avignon 35, Bilbao 33: Avignon leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Avignon and Bilbao.

Your match

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

Avignon
53match

Wins on live music and the arts and day trips with your weighting.

Bilbao
Best match
59match

Wins on food and drink and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Avignon in July

32 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
24 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
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
AvignonBilbao

Where the figures come from

Avignon has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Avignon's sunshine is measured 65 km from the centre, at Marseille / Marignane.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Avignon: 2005-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Avignon / Morières-lès-Avignon (8.6 km from centre). Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAvignonBilbao
Official languageFrenchSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation10 m19 m
Main airportMarseille Provence Airport (MRS)65 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAvignonBilbao
City population92,188351,124
People per km²1,4208,440
Museums within 10 km1117
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km62
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 Avignon 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). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.