VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
A jetty on the lagoon, Faro
FaroA jetty on the lagoon

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Faro by Efrem Efre, Pexels License.

Bilbao or Faro?

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
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Faro for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Faro’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, Faro 74: Faro leads by 29 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Faro 48: Bilbao leads by 33 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Faro 35: Bilbao leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Faro 32: Bilbao leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Faro 62: Bilbao leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Faro 64: Bilbao leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Faro 60: Faro leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Faro 60: Bilbao leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Faro 35: Bilbao leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Faro 60: Faro leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Faro 30: Bilbao leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao and Faro are level on 33.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Faro.

Your match

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

Bilbao
Best match
59match

Wins on food and drink and culture and sights with your weighting.

Faro
49match

Wins on beaches 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

Faro in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoFaro

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Faro: 1991-2020 normals, Faro / Aeroporto (2.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoFaro
Official languageSpanishPortuguese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation19 m10 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsFaro - Gago Coutinho International Airport (FAO)3 km from centre91 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoFaro
City population351,12464,560
People per km²8,440319
Museums within 10 km172
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month3 months

Where else could you go?

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