VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Seattle by Caio, Pexels License.

Bilbao or Seattle?

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

  • day trips
  • prices
  • getting around

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

Choose Seattle for

  • live music and the arts
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Seattle’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, Seattle 30: Bilbao leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Seattle 66: Bilbao leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Seattle 50: Bilbao leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Seattle 55: Seattle leads by 1 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Seattle 87: Seattle leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Seattle 55: Bilbao leads by 23 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Seattle 64: Seattle leads by 9 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Seattle 60: Bilbao leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Seattle 52: Seattle leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Seattle 22: Bilbao leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Seattle 70: Seattle leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Seattle 40: Seattle leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Seattle.

Your match

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

Bilbao
Best match
59match

Wins on day trips and prices with your weighting.

Seattle
54match

Wins on live music and the arts and nature and the outdoors 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

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoSeattle

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoSeattle
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation19 m40 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoSeattle
City population351,124737,015
People per km²8,4401,996
Museums within 10 km1727
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
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 Seattle 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

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.