VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
The Jet d'Eau and a lake boat, Geneva
GenevaThe Jet d'Eau and a lake boat

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Geneva by Diviosen, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Bilbao or Geneva?

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

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

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

Choose Geneva for

  • wellness
  • shopping
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Geneva’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 and Geneva are level on 45.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Geneva 55: Bilbao leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Geneva 58: Bilbao leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Geneva 38: Bilbao leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Geneva 82: Geneva leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Geneva 80: Geneva leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Geneva 57: Geneva leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Geneva 86: Geneva leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Geneva 68: Geneva leads by 21 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Geneva 5: Bilbao leads by 39 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Geneva 60: Geneva leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Geneva 55: Geneva leads by 22 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Geneva.

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 prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Geneva
57match

Wins on wellness and shopping 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

Geneva in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
77 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoGeneva

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Geneva: 1991-2020 normals, Geneve-Cointrin (5.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoGeneva
Official languageSpanishFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation19 m403 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsGeneva International Airport (GVA)5 km from centre150 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoGeneva
City population351,124211,152
People per km²8,44013,280
Museums within 10 km1734
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22
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 Geneva 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.