VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
Colourful houses in the old town, Mazatlan
MazatlanColourful houses in the old town

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

Bilbao or Mazatlan?

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
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Mazatlan for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Mazatlan’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, Mazatlan 80: Mazatlan leads by 35 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Mazatlan 62: Bilbao leads by 19 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Mazatlan 42: Bilbao leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Mazatlan 55: Mazatlan leads by 1 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Mazatlan 66: Bilbao leads by 9 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Mazatlan 45: Bilbao leads by 33 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Mazatlan 60: Mazatlan leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Mazatlan 42: Bilbao leads by 37 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Mazatlan 30: Bilbao leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Mazatlan 70: Mazatlan leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Mazatlan 40: Bilbao leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Mazatlan 35: Mazatlan leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Mazatlan.

Your match

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

Bilbao
Best match
59match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Mazatlan
52match

Wins on beaches and prices 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

Mazatlan in July

34 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
153 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoMazatlan

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Mazatlan: 1991-2020 normals, Colonia Juan Carras-Co Mazatlan, Sin. (2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoMazatlan
Official languageSpanishSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-7
Emergency number112911
Elevation19 m139 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsGeneral Rafael Buelna International Airport (MZT)16 km from centre23 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoMazatlan
City population351,124441,975
People per km²8,440-
Museums within 10 km173
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bilbao or Mazatlan 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.