VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
The Croatian National Theatre, Zagreb
ZagrebThe Croatian National Theatre

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Zagreb by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Bilbao or Zagreb?

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
  • day trips

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

Choose Zagreb for

  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Zagreb’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, Zagreb 10: Bilbao leads by 35 points.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Zagreb 55: Bilbao leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Zagreb 56: Bilbao leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Zagreb 47: Bilbao leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Zagreb 62: Bilbao leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Zagreb 60: Bilbao leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Zagreb 52: Bilbao leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Zagreb 70: Bilbao leads by 9 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Zagreb 40: Bilbao leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Zagreb 60: Zagreb leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Zagreb 52: Bilbao leads by 1 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao and Zagreb are level on 33.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Zagreb.

Your match

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

Bilbao
Best match
59match

Wins on beaches and food and drink with your weighting.

Zagreb
50match

Wins on prices 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

Zagreb in July

29 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoZagreb

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Zagreb: 1991-2020 normals, Zagreb / Gric (0.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoZagreb
Official languageSpanishCroatian
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 m127 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsZagreb Franjo Tuđman International Airport (ZAG)11 km from centre64 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoZagreb
City population351,124767,131
People per km²8,440-
Museums within 10 km1727
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
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 Zagreb 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.