VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
The Colosseum, Rome
RomeThe Colosseum

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Rome by Tournasol7, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Bilbao or Rome?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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

Choose Rome for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Rome’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, Rome 50: Rome leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Rome 82: Rome leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Rome 99: Rome leads by 37 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Rome 58: Rome leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Rome 58: Bilbao leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Rome 92: Rome leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Rome 50: Bilbao leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Rome 60: Bilbao leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Rome 72: Rome leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Rome 38: Bilbao leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Rome 68: Rome leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Rome 40: Rome leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Rome.

Your match

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

Bilbao
59match

Wins on getting around and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Rome
Best match
64match

Wins on culture and sights and shopping 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

Rome in July

31 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
21 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoRome

Where the figures come from

Rome's sunshine is measured 31 km from the centre, at Vigna Di Valle.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Rome: 1991-2020 normals, Roma / Ciampino (15.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoRome
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 m21 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsRome–Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO)23 km from centre242 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoRome
City population351,1242,748,109
People per km²8,4402,135
Museums within 10 km17178
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km27
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month5 months

Where else could you go?

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