VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Bilbao or Cartagena?

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

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around

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

Choose Cartagena for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Cartagena’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, Cartagena 70: Cartagena leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Cartagena 62: Bilbao leads by 19 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Cartagena 68: Cartagena leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Cartagena 70: Cartagena leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Cartagena 46: Bilbao leads by 29 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Cartagena 33: Bilbao leads by 45 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Cartagena 40: Bilbao leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Cartagena 54: Bilbao leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Cartagena 48: Cartagena leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Cartagena 60: Cartagena leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Cartagena 40: Bilbao leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Cartagena 40: Cartagena leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Cartagena.

Your match

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

Bilbao
Best match
59match

Wins on day trips and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Cartagena
53match

Wins on beaches 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

Cartagena in July

31 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
124 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoCartagena

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoCartagena
Official languageSpanishSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112123
Elevation19 m2 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days19 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoCartagena
City population351,124914,552
People per km²8,4401,599
Museums within 10 km172
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month12 months

Where else could you go?

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