VacationSelector
The Forbidden City, Beijing
BeijingThe Forbidden City
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river

Photos: Beijing by BI ravencrow, Pexels License; Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Beijing 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 Beijing for

  • culture and sights
  • shopping
  • prices

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

Choose Bilbao for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around

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. Beijing 6, Bilbao 45: Bilbao leads by 39 points.
Food & drink. Beijing and Bilbao are level on 81.
Culture & sights. Beijing 93, Bilbao 62: Beijing leads by 31 points.
Nightlife. Beijing 58, Bilbao 54: Beijing leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Beijing 60, Bilbao 75: Bilbao leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Beijing 85, Bilbao 78: Beijing leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Beijing 64, Bilbao 55: Beijing leads by 9 points.
Getting around. Beijing 69, Bilbao 79: Bilbao leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Beijing 72, Bilbao 47: Beijing leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Beijing 68, Bilbao 44: Beijing leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Beijing 68, Bilbao 53: Beijing leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Beijing 55, Bilbao 33: Beijing leads by 22 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Beijing and Bilbao.

Your match

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

Beijing
Best match
65match

Wins on culture and sights and shopping with your weighting.

Bilbao
59match

Wins on beaches 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.

Beijing in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
163 mmrain in the month
6 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
BeijingBilbao

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Beijing: 1991-2020 normals, Beijing (11.1 km from centre). Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBeijingBilbao
Official languagePutonghuaSpanish
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Euro (EUR)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119112
Elevation43 m19 m
Main airportBeijing Capital International Airport (PEK)25 km from centre104 non-stop destinationsBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBeijingBilbao
City population21,893,095351,124
People per km²1,3348,440
Museums within 10 km8317
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 Beijing 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.