VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
The Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, Wilmington
WilmingtonThe Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Wilmington by Unexpected Snacks, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Bilbao or Wilmington?

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
  • food and drink
  • day trips

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

Choose Wilmington for

  • beaches
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Wilmington’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, Wilmington 73: Wilmington leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Wilmington 48: Bilbao leads by 33 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Wilmington 40: Bilbao leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Wilmington 40: Bilbao leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Wilmington 58: Bilbao leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Wilmington 45: Bilbao leads by 33 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Wilmington 62: Wilmington leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Wilmington 28: Bilbao leads by 51 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Wilmington 33: Bilbao leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Wilmington 42: Bilbao leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Wilmington 40: Bilbao leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao and Wilmington are level on 33.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Wilmington.

Your match

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

Bilbao
Best match
59match

Wins on getting around and food and drink with your weighting.

Wilmington
45match

Wins on beaches and families 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

Wilmington in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
174 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoWilmington

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Wilmington: 1991-2020 normals, Wilmington / The Palms Mobile Home Park (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoWilmington
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation19 m9 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsWilmington International Airport (ILM)5 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoWilmington
City population351,124115,451
People per km²8,440839
Museums within 10 km172
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
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 Wilmington 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.