Weather in Bilbao in November

Shoulder season. November is shoulder season in Bilbao — cheaper, quieter, and a genuine gamble. You should expect rain on 16 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

November ranks 9 of 12 in Bilbao: past the worst of the year but short of July, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 16 days, 5 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Pack for 15.7 °C days and 12 °C nights; the spread matters more here than any single number.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: the day barely swings — 3.7 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest November day reached 24.2 °C and the coldest night fell to 5.9 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 62 mm — roughly 42% of the month's rain in one day.

November is moderately variable: 37 mm in the driest year against 358 mm in the wettest, around an average of 146 mm. Roughly two Novembers in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind sits around 18.4 km/h — a steady breeze rather than a nuisance, and welcome on the warmer days, and humidity runs at 77%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How November sits in the year

The month is on the way down: 4.6 °C cooler than October, with December dropping another 2.3 °C. The first week and the last are not the same trip.

Daylight in November

9.8 hours of daylight, losing 1.1 hours across the month. That is between Bilbao's extremes of 15.4 and 9 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 16.1 °C in November — cold — a quick dip rather than a swim, and a wetsuit if you are in for longer. The sea peaks at 21.9 °C in August and bottoms out at 12.5 °C — water lags the air by a month or two, which is why the best swimming often comes after the best weather.

How busy it gets

Quiet. Few other visitors, cheaper rooms, and a real chance some seasonal operators are shut.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

November in Bilbao versus nearby

If Bilbao is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Gasteiz / Vitoria is the weaker option in November — 3.2 °C cooler, the same number of rain days. Gijón is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day more rain.

So: November is a compromise. July is 32 points better and is what Bilbao is actually like at its best — worth moving the trip for if that is possible, and worth adjusting expectations for if it is not.

Every month in Bilbao

See all twelve months in Bilbao, or where else to go in November.