VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
The CEC Palace on Calea Victoriei, Bucharest
BucharestThe CEC Palace on Calea Victoriei

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Bucharest by Jorge Láscar, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Bilbao or Bucharest?

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

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around

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

Choose Bucharest for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Bucharest’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, Bucharest 8: Bilbao leads by 37 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Bucharest 55: Bilbao leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Bucharest 58: Bilbao leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Bucharest 70: Bucharest leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Bucharest 45: Bilbao leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Bucharest 52: Bilbao leads by 26 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Bucharest 52: Bilbao leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Bucharest 52: Bilbao leads by 27 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Bucharest 45: Bilbao leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Bucharest 70: Bucharest leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Bucharest 60: Bucharest leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Bucharest 47: Bucharest leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Bucharest.

Your match

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

Bilbao
Best match
59match

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

Bucharest
51match

Wins on prices 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.

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

Bucharest in July

30 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
68 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoBucharest

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Bucharest: 1991-2020 normals, Bucuresti / Imh (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoBucharest
Official languageSpanishRomanian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Romanian Leu (RON)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation19 m70 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsBucharest Henri Coandă International Airport (OTP)18 km from centre121 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days17 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoBucharest
City population351,1241,716,961
People per km²8,4407,597
Museums within 10 km1741
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
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 Bucharest 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.