VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
The Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort, Galle
GalleThe Dutch Reformed Church in Galle Fort

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Galle by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Bilbao or Galle?

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

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

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

Choose Galle for

  • wellness
  • beaches
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Galle’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, Galle 80: Galle leads by 35 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Galle 50: Bilbao leads by 31 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Galle 55: Bilbao leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Galle 18: Bilbao leads by 36 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Galle 66: Bilbao leads by 9 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Galle 50: Bilbao leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Galle 42: Bilbao leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Galle 35: Bilbao leads by 44 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Galle 33: Bilbao leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Galle 72: Galle leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Galle 10: Bilbao leads by 43 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Galle 70: Galle leads by 37 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Galle.

Your match

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

Bilbao
Best match
59match

Wins on getting around and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Galle
48match

Wins on wellness and beaches 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

Galle in July

28 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
116 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoGalle

Where the figures come from

Galle has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Galle: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoGalle
Official languageSpanishTamil, Sinhala
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Sri Lanka Rupee (LKR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzGM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+5:30
Emergency number112Police 119, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation19 m0 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)133 km from centre56 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoGalle
City population351,12493,118
People per km²8,440-
Museums within 10 km172
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bilbao or Galle 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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.