VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
The fountain in Piazza De Ferrari, Genoa
GenoaThe fountain in Piazza De Ferrari

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Genoa by Faber1893, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Bilbao or Genoa?

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
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

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

Choose Genoa for

  • beaches
  • culture and sights
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Genoa’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, Genoa 62: Genoa leads by 17 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Genoa 72: Bilbao leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Genoa 76: Genoa leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Genoa 42: Bilbao leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Genoa 78: Genoa leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Genoa 83: Genoa leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Genoa 64: Genoa leads by 9 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Genoa 66: Bilbao leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Genoa 48: Genoa leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Genoa 55: Genoa leads by 11 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Genoa 52: Bilbao leads by 1 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Genoa 35: Genoa leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Genoa.

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 getting around and nightlife with your weighting.

Genoa
61match

Wins on beaches 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

Genoa in July

27 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoGenoa

Where the figures come from

Genoa has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Genoa's sunshine is measured 80 km from the centre, at Capo Mele.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Genoa: 1991-2020 normals, Genova / Sestri (6.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoGenoa
Official languageSpanishItalian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation19 m20 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsGenoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport (GOA)7 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoGenoa
City population351,124558,745
People per km²8,4402,325
Museums within 10 km1751
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month4 months

Where else could you go?

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