VacationSelector
The Hôtel du Palais, Biarritz
BiarritzThe Hôtel du Palais
Hawthorne Bridge and downtown, Portland
PortlandHawthorne Bridge and downtown

Photos: Biarritz by Lilipiapia, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Portland by Cacophony, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Biarritz or Portland?

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 Biarritz for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • wellness

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

Choose Portland for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Portland’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. Biarritz 68, Portland 20: Biarritz leads by 48 points.
Food & drink. Biarritz 62, Portland 68: Portland leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Biarritz 33, Portland 38: Portland leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Biarritz 36, Portland 52: Portland leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Biarritz 74, Portland 84: Portland leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Biarritz 80, Portland 58: Biarritz leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Biarritz 62, Portland 55: Biarritz leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Biarritz 58, Portland 62: Portland leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Biarritz 42, Portland 52: Portland leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Biarritz 30, Portland 38: Portland leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Biarritz 38, Portland 55: Portland leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Biarritz 64, Portland 42: Biarritz leads by 22 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Biarritz and Portland.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Biarritz
54match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

Portland
52match

Wins on live music and the arts 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.

Biarritz in July

24 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
97 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Portland in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
BiarritzPortland

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Biarritz: 1999-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Biarritz (2.5 km from centre). Portland: 1991-2020 normals, Portland International Airport (9.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBiarritzPortland
Official languageFrench-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation0 m152 m
Main airportBiarritz Pays Basque airport (BIQ)3 km from centre25 non-stop destinationsPortland International Airport (PDX)10 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureBiarritzPortland
City population26,206652,503
People per km²2,2401,736
Museums within 10 km817
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Biarritz or Portland 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). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.