VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
The Massachusetts State House, Boston
BostonThe Massachusetts State House

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Boston by Ajay Suresh, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Bilbao or Boston?

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

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Boston for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Boston’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, Boston 35: Bilbao leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Boston 64: Bilbao leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Boston 72: Boston leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Boston 47: Bilbao leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Boston 60: Bilbao leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Boston 72: Bilbao leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Boston 72: Boston leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Boston 70: Bilbao leads by 9 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Boston 55: Boston leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Boston 18: Bilbao leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Boston 72: Boston leads by 19 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Boston 30: Bilbao leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Boston.

Your match

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

Bilbao
Best match
59match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Boston
56match

Wins on live music and the arts and families 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

Boston in July

28 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoBoston

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Boston: 1991-2020 normals, Boston Logan International (3.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoBoston
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation19 m43 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsBoston Logan International Airport (BOS)4 km from centre144 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoBoston
City population351,124675,647
People per km²8,4402,910
Museums within 10 km1751
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 monthNone

Where else could you go?

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