VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Bilbao or Wellington?

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

  • day trips
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Wellington for

  • families
  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Wellington’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, Wellington 33: Bilbao leads by 12 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Wellington 62: Bilbao leads by 19 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Wellington 44: Bilbao leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Wellington 45: Bilbao leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Wellington 78: Wellington leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Wellington 40: Bilbao leads by 38 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Wellington 68: Bilbao leads by 11 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Wellington 42: Bilbao leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Wellington 33: Bilbao leads by 11 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Wellington 56: Wellington leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Wellington 30: Bilbao leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Wellington.

Your match

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

Bilbao
Best match
59match

Wins on day trips and food and drink with your weighting.

Wellington
49match

Wins on families and nature and the outdoors 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

Wellington in July

12 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoWellington

Where the figures come from

Wellington's sunshine is measured 47 km from the centre, at Paraparaumu Aerodrome.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoWellington
Official languageSpanishEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyEuro (EUR)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number112111
Elevation19 m0 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoWellington
City population351,124216,200
People per km²8,440487
Museums within 10 km1712
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 monthNone

Where else could you go?

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