VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Bilbao or Samarkand?

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

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • prices
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Samarkand’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, Samarkand 4: Bilbao leads by 41 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Samarkand 54: Bilbao leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Samarkand 14: Bilbao leads by 40 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Samarkand 40: Bilbao leads by 35 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Samarkand 72: Bilbao leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Samarkand 30: Bilbao leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Samarkand 58: Bilbao leads by 21 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Samarkand 42: Bilbao leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Samarkand 80: Samarkand leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Samarkand 24: Bilbao leads by 29 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Samarkand 32: Bilbao leads by 1 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Samarkand.

Your match

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

Bilbao
Best match
59match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

Samarkand
45match

Wins on prices and culture and sights 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

Samarkand in July

34 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
2 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoSamarkand

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoSamarkand
Official languageSpanishUzbek
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+5
Emergency number112112
Elevation19 m702 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoSamarkand
City population351,124546,303
People per km²8,4405,058
Museums within 10 km1711
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month-

Where else could you go?

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