VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License.

Bilbao or Reykjavik?

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

  • day trips
  • food and drink
  • prices

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

Choose Reykjavik for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Reykjavik’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, Reykjavik 12: Bilbao leads by 33 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Reykjavik 42: Bilbao leads by 39 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Reykjavik 25: Bilbao leads by 37 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Reykjavik 45: Bilbao leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Reykjavik 92: Reykjavik leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Reykjavik 35: Bilbao leads by 43 points.
Good for families. Bilbao and Reykjavik are level on 55.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Reykjavik 55: Bilbao leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Reykjavik 25: Bilbao leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Reykjavik 6: Bilbao leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Reykjavik 45: Bilbao leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Reykjavik 88: Reykjavik leads by 55 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Reykjavik.

Your match

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

Bilbao
Best match
59match

Wins on day trips and food and drink with your weighting.

Reykjavik
44match

Wins on wellness 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

Reykjavik in July

15 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
50 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
11 °Csea
20 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoReykjavik

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoReykjavik
Official languageSpanishIcelandic
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Iceland Krona (ISK)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC
Emergency number112112
Elevation19 m8 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoReykjavik
City population351,124138,772
People per km²8,440569
Museums within 10 km1723
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
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 Reykjavik 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.