VacationSelector
The Cathedral of Sant'Agata, Catania
CataniaThe Cathedral of Sant'Agata
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace

Photos: Catania by Berthold Werner, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License.

Catania 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 Catania for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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

Choose Madrid for

  • getting around
  • shopping
  • nightlife

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. Catania 72, Madrid 5: Catania leads by 67 points.
Food & drink. Catania 77, Madrid 80: Madrid leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Catania 62, Madrid 86: Madrid leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Catania 60, Madrid 85: Madrid leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Catania 83, Madrid 60: Catania leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Catania 84, Madrid 89: Madrid leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Catania 50, Madrid 68: Madrid leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Catania 48, Madrid 84: Madrid leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Catania 42, Madrid 75: Madrid leads by 33 points.
Affordability. Catania 60, Madrid 50: Catania leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Catania 55, Madrid 77: Madrid leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Catania 30, Madrid 36: Madrid leads by 6 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Catania
60match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Madrid
Best match
66match

Wins on getting around and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Catania in July

31 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
9 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Madrid in July

33 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
9 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
CataniaMadrid

Where the figures come from

Catania's sunshine is measured 88 km from the centre, at Messina.

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

Before you go

MeasureCataniaMadrid
Official languageItalianSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCFL230 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 airportCatania-Fontanarossa Airport (CTA)4 km from centre96 non-stop destinationsAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureCataniaMadrid
City population311,5843,506,730
People per km²1,7045,801
Museums within 10 km2588
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km34
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Catania 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.