VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
A yellow tram in a narrow street, Lisbon
LisbonA yellow tram in a narrow street

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Lisbon by Riccardo Toso, Pexels License.

Bilbao or Lisbon?

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
  • food and drink

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

Choose Lisbon for

  • nightlife
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Lisbon’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, Lisbon 50: Lisbon leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Lisbon 75: Bilbao leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Lisbon 78: Lisbon leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Lisbon 75: Lisbon leads by 21 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao and Lisbon are level on 75.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Lisbon 82: Lisbon leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Lisbon 62: Lisbon leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Lisbon 66: Bilbao leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Lisbon 60: Lisbon leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Lisbon 55: Lisbon leads by 11 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Lisbon 60: Lisbon leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Lisbon 36: Lisbon leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Lisbon.

Your match

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

Bilbao
59match

Wins on getting around and food and drink with your weighting.

Lisbon
Best match
65match

Wins on nightlife 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

Lisbon in July

28 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoLisbon

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Lisbon: 1991-2020 normals, Lisboa / Geof (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoLisbon
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 m100 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsLisbon Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS)7 km from centre156 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoLisbon
City population351,124545,796
People per km²8,4405,453
Museums within 10 km1780
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km23
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 monthNone

Where else could you go?

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