VacationSelector
The Centro Civico and its clock tower, Bariloche
BarilocheThe Centro Civico and its clock tower
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river

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

Bariloche 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 Bariloche for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • prices

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

Choose Bilbao for

  • day trips
  • food and drink
  • 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. Bariloche 27, Bilbao 45: Bilbao leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Bariloche 44, Bilbao 81: Bilbao leads by 37 points.
Culture & sights. Bariloche 27, Bilbao 62: Bilbao leads by 35 points.
Nightlife. Bariloche 33, Bilbao 54: Bilbao leads by 21 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bariloche 94, Bilbao 75: Bariloche leads by 19 points.
Day trips. Bariloche 38, Bilbao 78: Bilbao leads by 40 points.
Good for families. Bariloche and Bilbao are level on 55.
Getting around. Bariloche 44, Bilbao 79: Bilbao leads by 35 points.
Shopping & style. Bariloche 33, Bilbao 47: Bilbao leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Bariloche 46, Bilbao 44: Bariloche leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bariloche 27, Bilbao 53: Bilbao leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bariloche 40, Bilbao 33: Bariloche leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bariloche and Bilbao.

Your match

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

Bariloche
42match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and wellness with your weighting.

Bilbao
Best match
59match

Wins on day trips and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Bariloche in July

8 °Cdaytime high
-1 °Cnight-time low
132 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
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
BarilocheBilbao

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bariloche: 1991-2020 normals, Bariloche Aerodrome (11.2 km from centre). Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBarilocheBilbao
Official languageSpanishSpanish
CurrencyArgentine Peso (ARS)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCI220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number117 or 911112
Elevation794 m19 m
Main airportTeniente Luis Candelaria International Airport (BRC)12 km from centre17 non-stop destinationsBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBarilocheBilbao
City population136,381351,124
People per km²6198,440
Museums within 10 km317
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 Bariloche 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). 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. 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.