VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia
SofiaThe Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

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

Bilbao or Sofia?

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
  • food and drink
  • day trips

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

Choose Sofia for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Sofia’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, Sofia 5: Bilbao leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Sofia 45: Bilbao leads by 36 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Sofia 60: Bilbao leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Sofia 50: Bilbao leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Sofia 80: Sofia leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Sofia 60: Bilbao leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Sofia 40: Bilbao leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Sofia 65: Bilbao leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Sofia 38: Bilbao leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Sofia 78: Sofia leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Sofia 50: Bilbao leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Sofia 45: Sofia leads by 12 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Sofia.

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 food and drink with your weighting.

Sofia
51match

Wins on prices 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

Sofia in July

28 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
64 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoSofia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Sofia: 1991-2020 normals, Sofia Observ. (7.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoSofia
Official languageSpanishBulgarian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation19 m560 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsSofia Airport (SOF)8 km from centre97 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoSofia
City population351,1241,213,134
People per km²8,4402,466
Museums within 10 km1742
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 Sofia 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.