VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
Rabelo boats on the Douro and the Ribeira, Porto
PortoRabelo boats on the Douro and the Ribeira

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Porto by Jakub Hałun, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Bilbao or Porto?

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
  • food and drink
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Porto for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Porto’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, Porto 40: Bilbao leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Porto 70: Bilbao leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Porto 68: Porto leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Porto 65: Porto leads by 11 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Porto 64: Bilbao leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Porto 79: Porto leads by 1 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Porto 52: Bilbao leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Porto 66: Bilbao leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Porto 52: Porto leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Porto 62: Porto leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Porto 52: Bilbao leads by 1 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Porto 34: Porto leads by 1 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Bilbao
59match

Wins on getting around and food and drink with your weighting.

Porto
59match

Wins on prices and nightlife 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

Porto in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
22 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoPorto

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Porto: 1991-2020 normals, Porto / Serra Do Pilar (2.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoPorto
Official languageSpanishPortuguese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation19 m104 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsFrancisco de Sá Carneiro Airport (OPO)12 km from centre134 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoPorto
City population351,124273,476
People per km²8,4406,606
Museums within 10 km1742
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km23
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 monthNone

Where else could you go?

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