VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
The Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower, Nairobi
NairobiThe Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Nairobi by Lmwangi, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Bilbao or Nairobi?

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
  • beaches

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

Choose Nairobi for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Nairobi’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, Nairobi 4: Bilbao leads by 41 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Nairobi 48: Bilbao leads by 33 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Nairobi 35: Bilbao leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Nairobi 58: Nairobi leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Nairobi 84: Nairobi leads by 9 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Nairobi 28: Bilbao leads by 50 points.
Good for families. Bilbao and Nairobi are level on 55.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Nairobi 20: Bilbao leads by 59 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Nairobi 45: Bilbao leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Nairobi 60: Nairobi leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Nairobi 35: Bilbao leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Nairobi 25: Bilbao leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Nairobi.

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.

Nairobi
41match

Wins on prices 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

Nairobi in July

24 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
11 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoNairobi

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Nairobi: 1991-2020 normals, Nairobi ACC/FIC/RCC/MET/COM/ (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoNairobi
Official languageSpanishEnglish, Swahili
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Kenyan Shilling (KES)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+3
Emergency number112Police 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999
Elevation19 m1,661 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsJomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO)13 km from centre60 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoNairobi
City population351,1245,545,000
People per km²8,4407,967
Museums within 10 km174
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 Nairobi 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.