VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
The cathedral and the Leaning Tower, Pisa
PisaThe cathedral and the Leaning Tower

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Pisa by Bruno Kraler, Pexels License.

Bilbao or Pisa?

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
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

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

Choose Pisa for

  • day trips
  • beaches
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Pisa’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, Pisa 58: Pisa leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Pisa 55: Bilbao leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Pisa 68: Pisa leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Pisa 40: Bilbao leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Pisa 62: Bilbao leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Pisa 92: Pisa leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Pisa 52: Bilbao leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Pisa 76: Bilbao leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Pisa 38: Bilbao leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Pisa 55: Pisa leads by 11 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Pisa 38: Bilbao leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Pisa 45: Pisa leads by 12 points.
0255075100

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

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 food and drink and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Pisa
57match

Wins on day trips and beaches 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

Pisa in July

30 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
32 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoPisa

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Pisa: 1991-2020 normals, Pisa / S. Giusto (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoPisa
Official languageSpanishItalian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation19 m4 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsPisa International Airport (PSA)4 km from centre82 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoPisa
City population351,12488,737
People per km²8,440479
Museums within 10 km1727
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km23
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 Pisa 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.