VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
The Semperoper, Dresden
DresdenThe Semperoper

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Dresden by Maksym Kozlenko, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Bilbao or Dresden?

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

  • food and drink
  • beaches
  • nightlife

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

Choose Dresden for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Dresden’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, Dresden 10: Bilbao leads by 35 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Dresden 45: Bilbao leads by 36 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Dresden 79: Dresden leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Dresden 47: Bilbao leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Dresden 74: Bilbao leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Dresden 76: Bilbao leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Dresden 60: Dresden leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Dresden 74: Bilbao leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Dresden 42: Bilbao leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Dresden 55: Dresden leads by 11 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Dresden 76: Dresden leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Dresden 42: Dresden leads by 9 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Bilbao
59match

Wins on food and drink and beaches with your weighting.

Dresden
57match

Wins on live music and the arts and culture and sights 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

Dresden in July

26 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
80 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
BilbaoDresden

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Dresden: 1991-2020 normals, Dresden-Strehlen (3.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoDresden
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 m126 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsDresden Airport (DRS)10 km from centre13 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoDresden
City population351,124562,764
People per km²8,4401,713
Museums within 10 km1770
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
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 Dresden 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.