VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
The yellow Palacio Canton on Paseo de Montejo, Merida
MeridaThe yellow Palacio Canton on Paseo de Montejo

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Merida by Mariposa2723, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Bilbao or Merida?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

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

Choose Merida for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Merida’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, Merida 50: Merida leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Merida 72: Bilbao leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Merida 64: Merida leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Merida 42: Bilbao leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Merida 48: Bilbao leads by 27 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Merida 80: Merida leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Merida 50: Bilbao leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Merida 45: Bilbao leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Merida 50: Merida leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Merida 75: Merida leads by 31 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Merida 52: Bilbao leads by 1 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Merida 40: Merida leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Merida.

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 nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Merida
56match

Wins on prices and wellness 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

Merida in July

35 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
148 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoMerida

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Merida: 1991-2020 normals, Merida / lic Manuel Crecencio (5.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoMerida
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-6
Emergency number112911
Elevation19 m12 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsManuel Crescencio Rejón International Airport (MID)5 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoMerida
City population351,124892,363
People per km²8,4401,010
Museums within 10 km175
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 Merida 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.