VacationSelector
The Brandenburg Gate, Berlin
BerlinThe Brandenburg Gate
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace

Photos: Berlin by Claudia Solano, Pexels License; Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License.

Berlin 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 Berlin for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • nightlife

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

Choose Madrid for

  • day trips
  • food and drink
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Berlin 38, Madrid 5: Berlin leads by 33 points.
Food & drink. Berlin 66, Madrid 80: Madrid leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Berlin and Madrid are level on 86.
Nightlife. Berlin 98, Madrid 85: Berlin leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Berlin 50, Madrid 60: Madrid leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Berlin 66, Madrid 89: Madrid leads by 23 points.
Good for families. Berlin 76, Madrid 68: Berlin leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Berlin 82, Madrid 84: Madrid leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Berlin 68, Madrid 75: Madrid leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Berlin 48, Madrid 50: Madrid leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Berlin 90, Madrid 77: Berlin leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Berlin 55, Madrid 36: Berlin leads by 19 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Berlin and Madrid.

Your match

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

Berlin
Best match
69match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

Madrid
66match

Wins on day trips and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Berlin in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
76 mmrain in the month
8 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

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
BerlinMadrid

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Berlin: 1991-2020 normals, Berlin / Alexanderplatz (0.9 km from centre). Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBerlinMadrid
Official languageGermanSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation34 m663 m
Main airportBerlin Brandenburg Airport (BER)19 km from centre161 non-stop destinationsAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureBerlinMadrid
City population3,700,5773,506,730
People per km²4,1535,801
Museums within 10 km15788
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km44

Where else could you go?

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