VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License.

Chicago 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 Chicago for

  • beaches
  • families
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Madrid for

  • day trips
  • prices
  • 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. Chicago 50, Madrid 5: Chicago leads by 45 points.
Food & drink. Chicago and Madrid are level on 80.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Madrid 86: Madrid leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Madrid 85: Madrid leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Madrid 60: Madrid leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Madrid 89: Madrid leads by 47 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Madrid 68: Chicago leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Madrid 84: Madrid leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Madrid 75: Madrid leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Madrid 50: Madrid leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Madrid 77: Chicago leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Madrid 36: Madrid leads by 3 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Chicago
62match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Madrid
Best match
66match

Wins on day trips and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Chicago in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
102 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
21 °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

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoMadrid

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoMadrid
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
Elevation179 m663 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoMadrid
City population2,746,3883,506,730
People per km²4,5295,801
Museums within 10 km4488
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km14
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month-

Where else could you go?

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