VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Bilbao or Cologne?

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
  • food and drink
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Cologne for

  • wellness
  • families
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Cologne’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, Cologne 14: Bilbao leads by 31 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Cologne 52: Bilbao leads by 29 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Cologne 67: Cologne leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Cologne 66: Cologne leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Cologne 56: Bilbao leads by 19 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Cologne 80: Cologne leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Cologne 70: Cologne leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Cologne 74: Bilbao leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Cologne 57: Cologne leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Cologne 46: Cologne leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Cologne 68: Cologne leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Cologne 50: Cologne leads by 17 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Bilbao
59match

Wins on beaches and food and drink with your weighting.

Cologne
58match

Wins on wellness and families 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

Cologne in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
81 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoCologne

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoCologne
Official languageSpanishGerman
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation19 m59 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoCologne
City population351,1241,025,523
People per km²8,4402,532
Museums within 10 km1740
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km23
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 Cologne 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.