VacationSelector
The Forbidden City, Beijing
BeijingThe Forbidden City
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace

Photos: Beijing by BI ravencrow, Pexels License; Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License.

Beijing 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 Beijing for

  • wellness
  • prices
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Madrid for

  • nightlife
  • getting around
  • 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. Beijing 6, Madrid 5: Beijing leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Beijing 81, Madrid 80: Beijing leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Beijing 93, Madrid 86: Beijing leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Beijing 58, Madrid 85: Madrid leads by 27 points.
Nature & outdoors. Beijing and Madrid are level on 60.
Day trips. Beijing 85, Madrid 89: Madrid leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Beijing 64, Madrid 68: Madrid leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Beijing 69, Madrid 84: Madrid leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Beijing 72, Madrid 75: Madrid leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Beijing 68, Madrid 50: Beijing leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Beijing 68, Madrid 77: Madrid leads by 9 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Beijing 55, Madrid 36: Beijing leads by 19 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Beijing and Madrid.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Beijing
65match

Wins on wellness and prices with your weighting.

Madrid
66match

Wins on nightlife and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Beijing in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
163 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
15 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

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BeijingMadrid

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Beijing: 1991-2020 normals, Beijing (11.1 km from centre). Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBeijingMadrid
Official languagePutonghuaSpanish
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Euro (EUR)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119112
Elevation43 m663 m
Main airportBeijing Capital International Airport (PEK)25 km from centre104 non-stop destinationsAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureBeijingMadrid
City population21,893,0953,506,730
People per km²1,3345,801
Museums within 10 km8388
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km64

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Beijing 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.