VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
The Anshun Bridge over the Jin River, Chengdu
ChengduThe Anshun Bridge over the Jin River

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Chengdu by TurnOnTheNight, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Bilbao or Chengdu?

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 Chengdu for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Chengdu’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, Chengdu 5: Bilbao leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Chengdu 86: Chengdu leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Chengdu 60: Bilbao leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Chengdu 68: Chengdu leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Chengdu 68: Bilbao leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Chengdu 80: Chengdu leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Chengdu 65: Chengdu leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Chengdu 74: Bilbao leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Chengdu 64: Chengdu leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Chengdu 80: Chengdu leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Chengdu 50: Bilbao leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Chengdu 58: Chengdu leads by 25 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Chengdu.

Your match

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

Bilbao
59match

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

Chengdu
Best match
63match

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

Chengdu in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
177 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoChengdu

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Chengdu: 1991-2020 normals, Chengdu (4.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoChengdu
Official languageSpanishPutonghua
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation19 m500 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsChengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU)16 km from centre77 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoChengdu
City population351,12420,937,757
People per km²8,4401,456
Museums within 10 km1710
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 Chengdu 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.