VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
The Frauenkirche towers and the Mariensäule, Munich
MunichThe Frauenkirche towers and the Mariensäule

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Munich by 0xd1ma, Pexels License.

Bilbao or Munich?

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

  • food and drink
  • beaches
  • prices

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

Choose Munich for

  • live music and the arts
  • wellness
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Munich’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, Munich 28: Bilbao leads by 17 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Munich 62: Bilbao leads by 19 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Munich 79: Munich leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Munich 56: Munich leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Munich 82: Munich leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Munich 86: Munich leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Munich 78: Munich leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Munich 86: Munich leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Munich 72: Munich leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Munich 32: Bilbao leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Munich 84: Munich leads by 31 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Munich 62: Munich leads by 29 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Munich.

Your match

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

Bilbao
59match

Wins on food and drink and beaches with your weighting.

Munich
Best match
67match

Wins on live music and the arts 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

Munich in July

25 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
119 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoMunich

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Munich: 1991-2020 normals, München (1.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoMunich
Official languageSpanishGerman
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation19 m519 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsMunich Airport (MUC)29 km from centre210 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoMunich
City population351,1241,505,036
People per km²8,4404,844
Museums within 10 km1774
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
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 Munich 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.