VacationSelector
Grote Markt and the Brabo Fountain, Antwerp
AntwerpGrote Markt and the Brabo Fountain
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace

Photos: Antwerp by Norbert Jakab, Pexels License; Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License.

Antwerp or Madrid?

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 Antwerp for

  • beaches

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

Choose Madrid for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Madrid’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. Antwerp 15, Madrid 5: Antwerp leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Antwerp 62, Madrid 80: Madrid leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Antwerp 73, Madrid 86: Madrid leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Antwerp 56, Madrid 85: Madrid leads by 29 points.
Nature & outdoors. Antwerp 33, Madrid 60: Madrid leads by 27 points.
Day trips. Antwerp 86, Madrid 89: Madrid leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Antwerp 62, Madrid 68: Madrid leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Antwerp 75, Madrid 84: Madrid leads by 9 points.
Shopping & style. Antwerp 70, Madrid 75: Madrid leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Antwerp 38, Madrid 50: Madrid leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Antwerp 58, Madrid 77: Madrid leads by 19 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Antwerp 30, Madrid 36: Madrid leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Antwerp and Madrid.

Your match

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

Antwerp
55match

Wins on beaches with your weighting.

Madrid
Best match
66match

Wins on nightlife 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.

Antwerp in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
78 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Madrid in July

33 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
9 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
AntwerpMadrid

Where the figures come from

Antwerp has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Antwerp's sunshine is measured 47 km from the centre, at Uccle.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Antwerp: 1991-2020 normals, Antwerpen / Deurne (5.2 km from centre). Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAntwerpMadrid
Official languageFrench, German, DutchSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation7 m663 m
Main airportBrussels Airport (BRU)36 km from centre191 non-stop destinationsAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureAntwerpMadrid
City population529,2473,506,730
People per km²2,5425,801
Museums within 10 km3888
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km94

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Antwerp or Madrid 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. 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.