VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
Fort San Pedro in Cebu City, Cebu
CebuFort San Pedro in Cebu City

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Cebu by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Bilbao or Cebu?

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
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Cebu for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Cebu’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, Cebu 60: Cebu leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Cebu 58: Bilbao leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Cebu 40: Bilbao leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Cebu 46: Bilbao leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Cebu 60: Bilbao leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Cebu 44: Bilbao leads by 34 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Cebu 45: Bilbao leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Cebu 26: Bilbao leads by 53 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Cebu 44: Bilbao leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Cebu 80: Cebu leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Cebu 25: Bilbao leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Cebu 50: Cebu leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Cebu.

Your match

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

Bilbao
Best match
59match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Cebu
48match

Wins on prices and wellness 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

Cebu in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
205 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoCebu

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Cebu: 1991-2020 normals, Mactan (7.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoCebu
Official languageSpanishEnglish, Filipino, Taglish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Philippine Peso (PHP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112911
Elevation19 m135 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsMactan Cebu International Airport (CEB)9 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoCebu
City population351,124965,332
People per km²8,4403,065
Museums within 10 km175
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
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 Cebu 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.