VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
Half-timbered houses on the canal, Petite France, Strasbourg
StrasbourgHalf-timbered houses on the canal, Petite France

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Strasbourg by Edoardo Colombo, Pexels License.

Bilbao or Strasbourg?

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
  • nightlife

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

Choose Strasbourg for

  • wellness
  • families
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Strasbourg’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, Strasbourg 10: Bilbao leads by 35 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Strasbourg 66: Bilbao leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Strasbourg 70: Strasbourg leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Strasbourg 40: Bilbao leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Strasbourg 62: Bilbao leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Strasbourg 80: Strasbourg leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Strasbourg 66: Strasbourg leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Bilbao and Strasbourg are level on 79.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Strasbourg 52: Strasbourg leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Bilbao and Strasbourg are level on 44.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Strasbourg 56: Strasbourg leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Strasbourg 55: Strasbourg leads by 22 points.
0255075100

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

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 beaches and food and drink with your weighting.

Strasbourg
57match

Wins on wellness and families 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

Strasbourg in July

26 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
72 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoStrasbourg

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Strasbourg: 1991-2020 normals, Strasbourg (9.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoStrasbourg
Official languageSpanishFrench
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation19 m132 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsStrasbourg Airport (SXB)10 km from centre43 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoStrasbourg
City population351,124293,771
People per km²8,4403,752
Museums within 10 km1721
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 Strasbourg 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.