VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
The Riva in front of Diocletian's Palace, Split
SplitThe Riva in front of Diocletian's Palace

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Split by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Bilbao or Split?

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

  • food and drink
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

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

Choose Split for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Split’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, Split 75: Split leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Split 57: Bilbao leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Split 66: Split leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Split 52: Bilbao leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Split 77: Split leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Bilbao and Split are level on 78.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Split 54: Bilbao leads by 1 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Split 67: Bilbao leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Split 32: Bilbao leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Split 45: Split leads by 1 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Split 37: Bilbao leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Split 40: Split leads by 7 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Bilbao
59match

Wins on food and drink and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Split
57match

Wins on beaches 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

Split in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
25 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoSplit

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Split: 1991-2020 normals, Split / Marjan (0.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoSplit
Official languageSpanishCroatian
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 m0 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsSplit Saint Jerome Airport (SPU)12 km from centre69 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoSplit
City population351,124160,577
People per km²8,440-
Museums within 10 km1711
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km24
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month4 months

Where else could you go?

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