Bilbao or San Sebastian?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Wins on nightlife and good for families with your weighting.
Wins on beaches & swimming and nature & day trips with your weighting.
What matters to you?
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.
The verdict
Choose Bilbao if you want the fuller evening out and the warmer days, with more places to drink and many more attractions within walking distance of the centre, and August highs of 26°C.
Choose San Sebastian if swimming is the point of the trip: 10 beaches nearby against Bilbao's 1, and a longer stretch of warm sea. Evenings are quieter and days cooler.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. San Sebastian leads by 24 points.24
| Bilbao | San Sebastian | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 31 | 55 |
| Swim season months | 1 | 2 |
| Beaches 10 km | 1 | 10 |
| Coast distance | 0 km | 0 km |
| Water distance | 0 km | 0 km |
Places to eat. Bilbao leads by 7 points.7
| Bilbao | San Sebastian | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 62 | 55 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 840 | 472 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 26 | 26 |
Museums & heritage. San Sebastian leads by 1 points.1
| Bilbao | San Sebastian | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 38 | 39 |
| Museums within 10 km | 25 | 17 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 12 | 7 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 48 | 41 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 1 | 3 |
Nightlife. Bilbao leads by 18 points.18
| Bilbao | San Sebastian | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 58 | 40 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 869 | 388 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 730 | 338 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 84 | 87 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 50 | 12 |
Nature & day trips. San Sebastian leads by 3 points.3
| Bilbao | San Sebastian | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 53 | 56 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 11 | 11 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 0 | 0 |
| Land share of disc % | 70 | 52 |
| Park area within 2 km | 119 hectares | 70 hectares |
Good for families. Bilbao leads by 17 points.17
| Bilbao | San Sebastian | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 47 | 30 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 17 | 5 |
| Park area within 2 km | 119 hectares | 70 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 0 | 1 |
Sights concentration. San Sebastian leads by 2 points.2
| Bilbao | San Sebastian | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 52 | 54 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 79 | 89 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Bilbao and San Sebastian are level on 71.
| Bilbao | San Sebastian | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 71 | 71 |
| Price level global | 60.8 | 60.8 |
| Daily budget | €122 | €122 |
Year-round weather. Bilbao leads by 12 points.12
| Bilbao | San Sebastian | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 70 | 58 |
| Monthly daytime high | 13.5 °C to 26.3 °C | 11.2 °C to 22.9 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 53 mm to 170 mm | 92 mm to 203 mm |
| Dry months | 0 | 0 |
Where they differ
Bilbao has about twice as many places to drink as San Sebastian and many times as many nightclubs, most of them near the centre. It also carries about three times as many tourist attractions near the centre and roughly twice as much park space, and it runs warmer through the year, 14-26°C against 11-23°C.
San Sebastian answers with the coast: 10 beaches nearby against Bilbao's 1, sea at 21°C or more for two months rather than one, and a theme park within reach where Bilbao has none.
Where they are alike
Museums and heritage separate them least: both hold a modest collection, Bilbao with somewhat more museums, San Sebastian with 3 UNESCO-listed places within day-trip reach against Bilbao's 1.
They are close, too, on how much sits within walking distance, with about as many notable places near the centre in each, and on surrounding countryside: 11% of the land around both is protected, so day trips out start from a similar base, though Bilbao keeps more park space close in.
Which traveller are you?
Swimmers and beach days: San Sebastian, with 10 beaches nearby against Bilbao's 1 and sea at 21°C or more for two months rather than one.
Eating and going out: Bilbao, which has about twice as many restaurants near the centre and twice as many places to drink, plus many times more nightclubs, most within walking distance.
Families: Bilbao again, with about three times as many tourist attractions near the centre and roughly twice the park space, though San Sebastian holds the one theme park within reach and both sit on the water.
What the numbers don't tell you
The value comparison between these two carries no information. The figure behind it is a national price level, identical for both by construction, and the €122 a day beside it is one national estimate rather than a measurement of either city. Neither is the cheaper trip on this evidence.
San Sebastian's beach advantage is a summer advantage. The sea reaches its warmest in August, which is also one of its wetter months at 109mm, and neither city has a month at 40mm or less, so the strong beach count and the rainfall record sit side by side.
When should you go?
The figures behind each month. Each row is shaded against that destination's own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that measure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.
Temperature and rainfall are thirty-year climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).
Bilbao's best run is July to September: highs of 25-26°C, its driest stretch at 53-54mm, and the sea at 22°C in late summer. Late autumn is the weak point, with 170mm in November.
San Sebastian peaks in the same weeks at 22-23°C with an equally warm sea, but stays wetter throughout, 92-109mm across midsummer against Bilbao's driest, and 203mm in November. Neither city has a genuinely dry season, so pack for rain whenever you go.
Getting there
| Flying from | Bilbao | San Sebastian |
|---|---|---|
| MadridMAD | 1 h 0 m no fares BIO · 5 km | 1 h 5 m €76-169 EAS · 16 km |
| BarcelonaBCN | 1 h 15 m €58-78 BIO · 5 km | 1 h 10 m no fares EAS · 16 km |
| ParisCDG, ORY, BVA | 1 h 35 m €102 BIO · 5 km | 1 h 30 m €129-164 BIQ · 40 km |
| PalmaPMI | 1 h 25 m no fares BIO · 5 km | 1 h 25 m no fares BIO · 75 km |
| AmsterdamAMS | 2 h 0 m €196-210 1 stop BIO · 5 km | 2 h 0 m €196-210 1 stop BIO · 75 km |
| MunichMUC | 2 h 10 m €203-242 1 stop BIO · 5 km | 2 h 10 m €203-242 1 stop BIO · 75 km |
| FrankfurtFRA, HHN | 2 h 0 m no fares BIO · 5 km | 2 h 0 m no fares BIO · 75 km |
| LondonLHR, LGW, STN, LTN +2 | 1 h 45 m €62-91 BIO · 5 km | 1 h 45 m €126-289 1 stop BIQ · 40 km |
| MarrakechRAK | 2 h 15 m no fares BIO · 5 km | 2 h 15 m no fares BIO · 75 km |
| New YorkJFK, EWR, LGA | 7 h 20 m no fares BIO · 5 km | 7 h 20 m no fares BIO · 75 km |
The busiest departure cities for these two, with a place kept for each other part of the world. Busiest means arriving passengers where an official count exists, and where none does, the number of non-stop services flown: official route statistics are published by the European reporting countries and by nobody else, so a table ranked on them alone would offer a reader in New York or Tokyo ten European cities. Flying times are estimated from the distance between airports, and every row is a city flown non-stop to both. Where the typical offer connects anyway, the stops are shown. Under each figure is the airport the flight lands at and how far that is from the centre, because the nearest airport is not always the one a route is flown to. Where both columns name the same airport it is one flight, and the difference between the two is the distance printed beside it. Typical return fares for 2026-08 to 2026-10, cached market data up to 7 days old. The figure is the middle half of the offers found, so a single price means they agreed and a range means they did not; for a typical route that middle half spans about a quarter of the median, and for the least settled routes rather more than the median itself.
Before you go
| Measure | Bilbao | San Sebastian |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Spanish | Spanish |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) | Euro (EUR) |
| Sockets | CF230 V, 50 Hz | CF230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer |
| Emergency number | 112 | 112 |
| Elevation | 19 m | 6 m |
| Main airport | Bilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre70 non-stop destinations | San Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 13 days | 13 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Bilbao | San Sebastian |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 351,124 | 189,866 |
| People per km² | 8,440 | 3,118 |
| Museums within 10 km | 17 | 14 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 1 | 3 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 54 | 45 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | 1 month | 2 months |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bilbao or San Sebastian somewhere new.