VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
La Major cathedral from the harbour, Marseille
MarseilleLa Major cathedral from the harbour

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Marseille by Charlotte Noblet, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Bilbao or Marseille?

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
  • families

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

Choose Marseille for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Marseille’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, Marseille 72: Marseille leads by 27 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Marseille 67: Bilbao leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Marseille 63: Marseille leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Marseille 57: Marseille leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Marseille 83: Marseille leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Marseille 86: Marseille leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Marseille 50: Bilbao leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Marseille 57: Bilbao leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao and Marseille are level on 47.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Marseille 45: Marseille leads by 1 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Marseille 56: Marseille leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Marseille 37: Marseille leads by 4 points.
0255075100

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

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 getting around and food and drink with your weighting.

Marseille
60match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors 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

Marseille in July

31 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
11 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoMarseille

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Marseille: 1991-2020 normals, Marseille / Marignane (20.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoMarseille
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 m0 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsMarseille Provence Airport (MRS)21 km from centre126 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoMarseille
City population351,124886,040
People per km²8,4403,683
Museums within 10 km1727
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month2 months

Where else could you go?

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