VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
The Cap Spartel lighthouse among palms, Tangier
TangierThe Cap Spartel lighthouse among palms

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

Bilbao or Tangier?

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

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

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

Choose Tangier for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Tangier’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, Tangier 50: Tangier leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Tangier 58: Bilbao leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Tangier 57: Bilbao leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Tangier 30: Bilbao leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Tangier 55: Bilbao leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Tangier 72: Bilbao leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Tangier 35: Bilbao leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Tangier 40: Bilbao leads by 39 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Tangier 42: Bilbao leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Tangier 76: Tangier leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Tangier 28: Bilbao leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Tangier 50: Tangier leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Tangier.

Your match

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

Bilbao
Best match
59match

Wins on getting around and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Tangier
49match

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

Tangier in July

29 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
22 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoTangier

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Tangier: 1991-2020 normals, Tanger Aerodrome (9.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoTangier
Official languageSpanishArabic, Standard Moroccan Tamazight
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Moroccan Dirham (MAD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1
Emergency number112Police 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15
Elevation19 m56 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsTangier Ibn Battuta Airport (TNG)11 km from centre50 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoTangier
City population351,1241,275,428
People per km²8,4406,393
Museums within 10 km176
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bilbao or Tangier 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.