VacationSelector
The Brandenburg Gate, Berlin
BerlinThe Brandenburg Gate
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river

Photos: Berlin by Claudia Solano, Pexels License; Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Berlin 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 Berlin for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Bilbao for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • food and drink
  • 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. Berlin 38, Bilbao 45: Bilbao leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Berlin 66, Bilbao 81: Bilbao leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Berlin 86, Bilbao 62: Berlin leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Berlin 98, Bilbao 54: Berlin leads by 44 points.
Nature & outdoors. Berlin 50, Bilbao 75: Bilbao leads by 25 points.
Day trips. Berlin 66, Bilbao 78: Bilbao leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Berlin 76, Bilbao 55: Berlin leads by 21 points.
Getting around. Berlin 82, Bilbao 79: Berlin leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Berlin 68, Bilbao 47: Berlin leads by 21 points.
Affordability. Berlin 48, Bilbao 44: Berlin leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Berlin 90, Bilbao 53: Berlin leads by 37 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Berlin 55, Bilbao 33: Berlin leads by 22 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Berlin and Bilbao.

Your match

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

Berlin
Best match
69match

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

Bilbao
59match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Berlin in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
76 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 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
BerlinBilbao

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Berlin: 1991-2020 normals, Berlin / Alexanderplatz (0.9 km from centre). Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBerlinBilbao
Official languageGermanSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation34 m19 m
Main airportBerlin Brandenburg Airport (BER)19 km from centre161 non-stop destinationsBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBerlinBilbao
City population3,700,577351,124
People per km²4,1538,440
Museums within 10 km15717
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km42
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 Berlin 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.