VacationSelector
The Texas State Capitol under a blue sky, Austin
AustinThe Texas State Capitol under a blue sky
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace

Photos: Austin by LoneStarMike, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License.

Austin 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 Austin for

  • beaches
  • wellness

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

Choose Madrid for

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

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. Austin 30, Madrid 5: Austin leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Austin 66, Madrid 80: Madrid leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Austin 40, Madrid 86: Madrid leads by 46 points.
Nightlife. Austin 65, Madrid 85: Madrid leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Austin 57, Madrid 60: Madrid leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Austin 58, Madrid 89: Madrid leads by 31 points.
Good for families. Austin 55, Madrid 68: Madrid leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Austin 30, Madrid 84: Madrid leads by 54 points.
Shopping & style. Austin 45, Madrid 75: Madrid leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Austin 33, Madrid 50: Madrid leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Austin and Madrid are level on 77.
Wellness & relaxation. Austin 40, Madrid 36: Austin leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Austin and Madrid.

Your match

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

Austin
50match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

Madrid
Best match
66match

Wins on getting around and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Austin in July

36 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
49 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
14 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

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AustinMadrid

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Austin: 1991-2020 normals, Camp Mabry/Austin City Asos (3.7 km from centre). Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAustinMadrid
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation149 m663 m
Main airportAustin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)13 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureAustinMadrid
City population961,8553,506,730
People per km²1,2175,801
Museums within 10 km2188
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km04

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Austin 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). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.