VacationSelector
The Guggenheim Museum on the river, Bilbao
BilbaoThe Guggenheim Museum on the river
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: Bilbao by José Ligero Loarte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Bilbao or Zurich?

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

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Zurich for

  • wellness
  • families
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Zurich’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 and Zurich are level on 45.
Food & drink. Bilbao 81, Zurich 53: Bilbao leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. Bilbao 62, Zurich 58: Bilbao leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Bilbao 54, Zurich 62: Zurich leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bilbao 75, Zurich 80: Zurich leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Bilbao 78, Zurich 84: Zurich leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Bilbao 55, Zurich 76: Zurich leads by 21 points.
Getting around. Bilbao 79, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Bilbao 47, Zurich 66: Zurich leads by 19 points.
Affordability. Bilbao 44, Zurich 3: Bilbao leads by 41 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bilbao 53, Zurich 70: Zurich leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bilbao 33, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bilbao and Zurich.

Your match

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

Bilbao
59match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Zurich
Best match
63match

Wins on wellness 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

Zurich in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BilbaoZurich

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bilbao: 1991-2020 normals, Bilbao / Sondica (4.1 km from centre). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBilbaoZurich
Official languageSpanishFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation19 m408 m
Main airportBilbao Airport (BIO)5 km from centre73 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureBilbaoZurich
City population351,124440,935
People per km²8,4405,016
Museums within 10 km1763
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
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 Zurich 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.