VacationSelector
Bryggen across Vågen, Bergen
BergenBryggen across Vågen
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river

Photos: Bergen by Abdullah Guc, Pexels License; Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Bergen 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 Bergen for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Bilbao for

  • day trips
  • food and drink
  • prices

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. Bergen 20, Bilbao 45: Bilbao leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Bergen 47, Bilbao 81: Bilbao leads by 34 points.
Culture & sights. Bergen 55, Bilbao 62: Bilbao leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Bergen 40, Bilbao 54: Bilbao leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bergen 88, Bilbao 75: Bergen leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Bergen 38, Bilbao 78: Bilbao leads by 40 points.
Good for families. Bergen 60, Bilbao 55: Bergen leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Bergen 74, Bilbao 79: Bilbao leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Bergen 33, Bilbao 47: Bilbao leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Bergen 12, Bilbao 44: Bilbao leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bergen 58, Bilbao 53: Bergen leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bergen 32, Bilbao 33: Bilbao leads by 1 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bergen and Bilbao.

Your match

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

Bergen
46match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and families 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.

Bergen in July

20 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
159 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 °Csea
18 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

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
BergenBilbao

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bergen: 1991-2020 normals, Bergen / Florida (1.2 km from centre). Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBergenBilbao
Official languageNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, SámiSpanish
CurrencyNorwegian Krone (NOK)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 113, fire 110112
Elevation5 m19 m
Main airportBergen Airport, Flesland (BGO)12 km from centre64 non-stop destinationsBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBergenBilbao
City population291,189351,124
People per km²3,3398,440
Museums within 10 km3117
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone1 month

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bergen 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). 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. 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.