VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License.

Bilbao or Chicago?

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
  • prices

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

Choose Chicago for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Chicago’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, Chicago 50: Chicago leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Chicago 80: Bilbao leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Chicago 78: Chicago leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Chicago 77: Chicago leads by 23 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Chicago 48: Bilbao leads by 27 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Chicago 42: Bilbao leads by 36 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Chicago 78: Chicago leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Chicago 72: Bilbao leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Chicago 70: Chicago leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Chicago 33: Bilbao leads by 11 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Chicago 82: Chicago leads by 29 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao and Chicago are level on 33.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Chicago.

Your match

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

Bilbao
59match

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

Chicago
Best match
62match

Wins on live music and the arts 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

Chicago in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
102 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoChicago

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoChicago
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation19 m179 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoChicago
City population351,1242,746,388
People per km²8,4404,529
Museums within 10 km1744
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month1 month

Where else could you go?

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