VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
The White Tower from the promenade, Thessaloniki
ThessalonikiThe White Tower from the promenade

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

Bilbao or Thessaloniki?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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

Choose Thessaloniki for

  • nightlife
  • prices
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Thessaloniki’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, Thessaloniki 55: Thessaloniki leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Thessaloniki 77: Bilbao leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Thessaloniki 73: Thessaloniki leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Thessaloniki 76: Thessaloniki leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Thessaloniki 66: Bilbao leads by 9 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Thessaloniki 74: Bilbao leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Thessaloniki 50: Bilbao leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Thessaloniki 60: Bilbao leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Thessaloniki 50: Thessaloniki leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Thessaloniki 66: Thessaloniki leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Thessaloniki 52: Bilbao leads by 1 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao and Thessaloniki are level on 33.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Thessaloniki.

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 getting around and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Thessaloniki
61match

Wins on nightlife and prices 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

Thessaloniki in July

32 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoThessaloniki

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Thessaloniki: 1991-2020 normals, Thessaloniki Airport (14 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoThessaloniki
Official languageSpanishGreek
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 m6 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsThessaloniki Macedonia International Airport (SKG)14 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoThessaloniki
City population351,124309,617
People per km²8,44016,042
Museums within 10 km1732
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month5 months

Where else could you go?

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