VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
The skyline and the Rocky Mountains over City Park and Ferril Lake, Denver
DenverThe skyline and the Rocky Mountains over City Park and Ferril Lake

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

Bilbao or Denver?

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
  • getting around
  • food and drink

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

Choose Denver for

  • live music and the arts
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Denver’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, Denver 5: Bilbao leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Denver 54: Bilbao leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Denver 44: Bilbao leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Denver 47: Bilbao leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Denver 84: Denver leads by 9 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Denver 57: Bilbao leads by 21 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Denver 67: Denver leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Denver 40: Bilbao leads by 39 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Denver 44: Bilbao leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Denver 36: Bilbao leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Denver 66: Denver leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Denver 40: Denver leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Denver.

Your match

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

Bilbao
Best match
59match

Wins on beaches and getting around with your weighting.

Denver
49match

Wins on live music and the arts 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

Denver in July

32 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
55 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoDenver

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Denver: 1991-2020 normals, Denver / Stapleton International, Co. (11.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoDenver
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-7, UTC-6 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation19 m1,609 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsDenver International Airport (DEN)30 km from centre231 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoDenver
City population351,124715,522
People per km²8,4401,783
Museums within 10 km1726
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 Denver 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.