VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
The Cloth Hall on the Main Square, Krakow
KrakowThe Cloth Hall on the Main Square

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Krakow by Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Bilbao or Krakow?

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

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Krakow for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Krakow’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, Krakow 9: Bilbao leads by 36 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Krakow 55: Bilbao leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Krakow 77: Krakow leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Krakow 68: Krakow leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Krakow 62: Bilbao leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Krakow 76: Bilbao leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Krakow 58: Krakow leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Krakow 74: Bilbao leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Krakow 48: Krakow leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Krakow 72: Krakow leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Krakow 55: Krakow leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Krakow 36: Krakow leads by 3 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Bilbao
59match

Wins on beaches and food and drink with your weighting.

Krakow
58match

Wins on prices 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

Krakow in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
100 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoKrakow

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Krakow: 1991-2020 normals, Krakow (10.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoKrakow
Official languageSpanishPolish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Zloty (PLN)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation19 m219 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsKraków John Paul II International Airport (KRK)11 km from centre132 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoKrakow
City population351,124804,237
People per km²8,4402,459
Museums within 10 km17113
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km24
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 Krakow 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.