VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
Vieux Nice and the Baie des Anges, Nice
NiceVieux Nice and the Baie des Anges

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Nice by Daniel Stockman, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Bilbao or Nice?

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
  • prices
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Nice for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Nice’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, Nice 75: Nice leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Nice 66: Bilbao leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Nice 64: Nice leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Nice 47: Bilbao leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Nice 80: Nice leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Nice 87: Nice leads by 9 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Nice 57: Nice leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Nice 74: Bilbao leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Nice 55: Nice leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Nice 35: Bilbao leads by 9 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Nice 45: Bilbao leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Nice 40: Nice leads by 7 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Bilbao
59match

Wins on food and drink and prices with your weighting.

Nice
60match

Wins on beaches and day trips 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

Nice in July

28 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoNice

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Nice: 1991-2020 normals, Nice (8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoNice
Official languageSpanishFrench
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation19 m0 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsNice-Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE)6 km from centre130 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoNice
City population351,124357,737
People per km²8,4404,975
Museums within 10 km1717
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bilbao or Nice 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.