VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Bilbao or Lyon?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around

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

Choose Lyon for

  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Lyon’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, Lyon 12: Bilbao leads by 33 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Lyon 84: Lyon leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Lyon 58: Lyon leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Lyon 64: Bilbao leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Lyon 77: Bilbao leads by 1 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Lyon 62: Lyon leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Lyon 77: Bilbao leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Lyon 58: Lyon leads by 11 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Lyon 42: Bilbao leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Lyon 68: Lyon leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Lyon 40: Lyon leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Lyon.

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 nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Lyon
60match

Wins on culture and sights and live music and the arts 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

Lyon in July

28 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
66 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
BilbaoLyon

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoLyon
Official languageSpanishFrench
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation19 m160 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoLyon
City population351,124519,127
People per km²8,44010,838
Museums within 10 km1743
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 Lyon 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.