VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License.

Bilbao or Philadelphia?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • food and drink
  • getting around

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

Choose Philadelphia for

  • live music and the arts
  • families
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Philadelphia’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, Philadelphia 36: Bilbao leads by 9 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Philadelphia 62: Bilbao leads by 19 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Philadelphia 55: Philadelphia leads by 1 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Philadelphia 52: Bilbao leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Philadelphia 80: Philadelphia leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Philadelphia 68: Philadelphia leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Philadelphia 66: Bilbao leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Philadelphia 57: Philadelphia leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Philadelphia 40: Bilbao leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 19 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Philadelphia 26: Bilbao leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Philadelphia.

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 nature and the outdoors and food and drink with your weighting.

Philadelphia
57match

Wins on live music and the arts and families 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

Philadelphia in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoPhiladelphia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoPhiladelphia
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation19 m12 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoPhiladelphia
City population351,1241,603,797
People per km²8,4404,339
Museums within 10 km1754
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 Philadelphia 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.