VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo
TokyoShibuya Crossing

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Tokyo by Benh LIEU SONG, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Bilbao or Tokyo?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

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

Choose Tokyo for

  • shopping
  • wellness
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Tokyo’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, Tokyo 40: Bilbao leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Tokyo 98: Tokyo leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Tokyo 84: Tokyo leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Tokyo 86: Tokyo leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Tokyo 68: Bilbao leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Tokyo 85: Tokyo leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Tokyo 95: Tokyo leads by 40 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Tokyo 98: Tokyo leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Tokyo 99: Tokyo leads by 52 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Tokyo 48: Tokyo leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Tokyo 86: Tokyo leads by 33 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Tokyo 78: Tokyo leads by 45 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Tokyo.

Your match

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

Bilbao
59match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches with your weighting.

Tokyo
Best match
80match

Wins on shopping 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

Tokyo in July

30 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
157 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
23 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoTokyo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Tokyo: 1991-2020 normals, Tokyo (3.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoTokyo
Official languageSpanishJapanese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Yen (JPY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number112Police 110, fire 119
Elevation19 m6 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsTokyo Haneda International Airport (HND)18 km from centre98 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoTokyo
City population351,12414,264,798
People per km²8,4406,501
Museums within 10 km17192
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
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 Tokyo 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

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.