VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
Place d'Armes and Notre-Dame Basilica, Montreal
MontrealPlace d'Armes and Notre-Dame Basilica

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Montreal by Arild Vågen, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Bilbao or Montreal?

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

  • day trips
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Montreal for

  • wellness
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Montreal’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, Montreal 25: Bilbao leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Montreal 78: Bilbao leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Montreal 60: Bilbao leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Montreal 75: Montreal leads by 21 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Montreal 66: Bilbao leads by 9 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Montreal 55: Bilbao leads by 23 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Montreal 68: Montreal leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Montreal 72: Bilbao leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Montreal 60: Montreal leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Montreal 45: Montreal leads by 1 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Montreal 76: Montreal leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Montreal 57: Montreal leads by 24 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Bilbao
59match

Wins on day trips and beaches with your weighting.

Montreal
61match

Wins on wellness 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

Montreal in July

27 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
98 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoMontreal

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Montreal: 1991-2020 normals, Montreal McTavish (3.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoMontreal
Official languageSpanishFrench, English
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation19 m31 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsMontreal / Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL)16 km from centre166 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoMontreal
City population351,1241,895,211
People per km²8,4403,806
Museums within 10 km1737
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
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 Montreal 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.