VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
The Hofburg and Heldenplatz, Vienna
ViennaThe Hofburg and Heldenplatz

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Vienna by C.Stadler/Bwag, CC BY-SA 3.0 AT, cropped.

Bilbao or Vienna?

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
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Vienna for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Vienna’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, Vienna 27: Bilbao leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Vienna 68: Bilbao leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Vienna 89: Vienna leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Vienna 50: Bilbao leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Vienna 62: Bilbao leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Vienna 74: Bilbao leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Vienna 77: Vienna leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Vienna 90: Vienna leads by 11 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Vienna 62: Vienna leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Bilbao and Vienna are level on 44.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Vienna 96: Vienna leads by 43 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Vienna 58: Vienna leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Vienna.

Your match

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

Bilbao
59match

Wins on beaches and food and drink with your weighting.

Vienna
Best match
66match

Wins on live music and the arts 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

Vienna in July

27 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
78 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoVienna

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Vienna: 1991-2020 normals, Wien / Hohe Warte (4.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoVienna
Official languageSpanishGerman, Austrian Sign Language
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation19 m151 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsVienna International Airport (VIE)18 km from centre202 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoVienna
City population351,1242,028,289
People per km²8,4404,890
Museums within 10 km17152
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km23
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 Vienna 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.