VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
San Petronio on Piazza Maggiore, Bologna
BolognaSan Petronio on Piazza Maggiore

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Bologna by Vanni Lazzari, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Bilbao or Bologna?

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 Bilbao for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • families

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

Choose Bologna for

  • day trips
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Bologna’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. Bilbao 45, Bologna 30: Bilbao leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Bologna 82: Bologna leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Bologna 77: Bologna leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Bologna 58: Bologna leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Bologna 52: Bilbao leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Bologna 95: Bologna leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Bologna 50: Bilbao leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Bologna 76: Bilbao leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Bologna 55: Bologna leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Bologna 48: Bologna leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Bologna 60: Bologna leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Bologna 40: Bologna leads by 7 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Bologna.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Bilbao
59match

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

Bologna
60match

Wins on day trips and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

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

Bologna in July

32 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
39 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoBologna

Where the figures come from

Bologna has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Bologna's sunshine is measured 82 km from the centre, at Cervia.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Bologna: 1991-2020 normals, Bologna / Borgo Panigale (5.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoBologna
Official languageSpanishItalian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation19 m54 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsBologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport (BLQ)6 km from centre98 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoBologna
City population351,124387,971
People per km²8,4402,754
Museums within 10 km1768
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km23
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bilbao or Bologna 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. 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.