VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License.

Bilbao or Rotterdam?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • food and drink
  • beaches

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

Choose Rotterdam for

  • families
  • wellness
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Rotterdam’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, Rotterdam 27: Bilbao leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Rotterdam 52: Bilbao leads by 29 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Rotterdam 58: Bilbao leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Rotterdam 52: Bilbao leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Rotterdam 44: Bilbao leads by 31 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Rotterdam 85: Rotterdam leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Rotterdam 66: Rotterdam leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Rotterdam 78: Bilbao leads by 1 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Rotterdam 55: Rotterdam leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Rotterdam 38: Bilbao leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Rotterdam 58: Rotterdam leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Rotterdam 42: Rotterdam leads by 9 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Rotterdam.

Your match

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

Bilbao
Best match
59match

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

Rotterdam
55match

Wins on families 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

Rotterdam in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
91 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoRotterdam

Where the figures come from

Rotterdam has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Rotterdam's sunshine is measured 52 km from the centre, at De Bilt.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Rotterdam: 1993-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Rotterdam Airport Zestienhoven (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoRotterdam
Official languageSpanishDutch
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation19 m10 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoRotterdam
City population351,124664,311
People per km²8,4402,080
Museums within 10 km1740
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km25
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 Rotterdam 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.