VacationSelector
The Three Graces fountain, Place de la Bourse, Bordeaux
BordeauxThe Three Graces fountain, Place de la Bourse
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace

Photos: Bordeaux by Gzen92, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License.

Bordeaux 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 Bordeaux for

  • beaches
  • wellness

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

Choose Madrid for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

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. Bordeaux 50, Madrid 5: Bordeaux leads by 45 points.
Food & drink. Bordeaux 78, Madrid 80: Madrid leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Bordeaux 68, Madrid 86: Madrid leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Bordeaux 50, Madrid 85: Madrid leads by 35 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bordeaux 58, Madrid 60: Madrid leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Bordeaux 78, Madrid 89: Madrid leads by 11 points.
Good for families. Bordeaux 57, Madrid 68: Madrid leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Bordeaux 76, Madrid 84: Madrid leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Bordeaux 56, Madrid 75: Madrid leads by 19 points.
Affordability. Bordeaux 42, Madrid 50: Madrid leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bordeaux 55, Madrid 77: Madrid leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bordeaux 40, Madrid 36: Bordeaux leads by 4 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Bordeaux
59match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

Madrid
Best match
66match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Bordeaux in July

27 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
47 mmrain in the month
8 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

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
BordeauxMadrid

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bordeaux: 1991-2020 normals, Bordeaux / Merignac (9.5 km from centre). Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBordeauxMadrid
Official languageFrenchSpanish
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
Elevation1 m663 m
Main airportBordeaux–Mérignac Airport (BOD)11 km from centre95 non-stop destinationsAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureBordeauxMadrid
City population267,9913,506,730
People per km²5,4255,801
Museums within 10 km1888
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 Bordeaux 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.