VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
Valletta from the water, Valletta
VallettaValletta from the water

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Valletta by Pho Tomass, Pexels License.

Bilbao or Valletta?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around

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

Choose Valletta for

  • beaches
  • culture and sights
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Valletta’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, Valletta 68: Valletta leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Valletta 55: Bilbao leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Valletta 46: Bilbao leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Valletta 56: Bilbao leads by 19 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Valletta 76: Bilbao leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Valletta 58: Valletta leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Valletta 62: Bilbao leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Valletta 38: Bilbao leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Valletta 50: Valletta leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Valletta 44: Bilbao leads by 9 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Valletta 32: Bilbao leads by 1 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Valletta.

Your match

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

Bilbao
Best match
59match

Wins on food and drink and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Valletta
55match

Wins on beaches and culture and sights 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

Valletta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoValletta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Valletta: 1991-2020 normals, Luqa (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoValletta
Official languageSpanishEnglish, Maltese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation19 m56 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsMalta International Airport (MLA)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoValletta
City population351,1245,197
People per km²8,4406,496
Museums within 10 km1716
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km23
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month6 months

Where else could you go?

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