VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License.

Bilbao or Chiang Mai?

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
  • beaches
  • day trips

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

Choose Chiang Mai for

  • wellness
  • prices
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Chiang Mai’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, Chiang Mai 6: Bilbao leads by 39 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Chiang Mai 78: Bilbao leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Chiang Mai 65: Chiang Mai leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Chiang Mai 45: Bilbao leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Chiang Mai 73: Bilbao leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Chiang Mai 48: Bilbao leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Bilbao and Chiang Mai are level on 55.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Chiang Mai 38: Bilbao leads by 41 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Chiang Mai 62: Chiang Mai leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Chiang Mai 90: Chiang Mai leads by 46 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Chiang Mai 30: Bilbao leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Chiang Mai 82: Chiang Mai leads by 49 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Chiang Mai.

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 beaches with your weighting.

Chiang Mai
56match

Wins on wellness and prices 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

Chiang Mai in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
153 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoChiang Mai

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoChiang Mai
Official languageSpanishThai
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Baht (THB)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzABCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+7
Emergency number112Police 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199
Elevation19 m310 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoChiang Mai
City population351,1241,198,000
People per km²8,4402,958
Museums within 10 km176
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 Chiang Mai 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.