VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
Haedong Yonggungsa temple on the rocks by the sea, Busan
BusanHaedong Yonggungsa temple on the rocks by the sea

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Busan by Andrea De Santis, Pexels License.

Bilbao or Busan?

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

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Busan for

  • wellness
  • beaches
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Busan’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, Busan 68: Busan leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Busan 72: Bilbao leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Busan 52: Bilbao leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Busan 60: Busan leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Busan 74: Bilbao leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Busan 74: Bilbao leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Busan 70: Busan leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Busan 68: Bilbao leads by 11 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Busan 60: Busan leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Busan 56: Busan leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Busan 42: Bilbao leads by 11 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Busan 78: Busan leads by 45 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Busan.

Your match

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

Bilbao
59match

Wins on getting around and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Busan
Best match
65match

Wins on wellness and beaches 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

Busan in July

27 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
352 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
23 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoBusan

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Busan: 1991-2020 normals, Pusan (9.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoBusan
Official languageSpanishKorean, Korean Sign Language
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Won (KRW)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number112Police 112, ambulance 119, fire 119
Elevation19 m30 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsGimhae International Airport (PUS)12 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoBusan
City population351,1243,453,198
People per km²8,4404,486
Museums within 10 km177
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km23
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month4 months

Where else could you go?

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