VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
The House of the Blackheads at dusk, Riga
RigaThe House of the Blackheads at dusk

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Riga by Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Bilbao or Riga?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

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

Choose Riga for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Riga’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, Riga 40: Bilbao leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Riga 52: Bilbao leads by 29 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Riga 66: Riga leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Riga 52: Bilbao leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Riga 55: Bilbao leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Riga 60: Bilbao leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Riga 50: Bilbao leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Riga 68: Bilbao leads by 11 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Riga 45: Bilbao leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Riga 62: Riga leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Riga 65: Riga leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Riga 50: Riga leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Riga.

Your match

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

Bilbao
Best match
59match

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

Riga
55match

Wins on prices and wellness 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

Riga in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
18 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoRiga

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

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoRiga
Official languageSpanishLatvian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation19 m6 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsRiga International Airport (RIX)9 km from centre93 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoRiga
City population351,124588,911
People per km²8,440-
Museums within 10 km1712
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 Riga 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.