VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License.

Cologne 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 Cologne for

  • wellness
  • beaches
  • families

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

Choose Madrid for

  • food and drink
  • culture and sights
  • 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. Cologne 14, Madrid 5: Cologne leads by 9 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Madrid 80: Madrid leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Madrid 86: Madrid leads by 19 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Madrid 85: Madrid leads by 19 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Madrid 60: Madrid leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Madrid 89: Madrid leads by 9 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Madrid 68: Cologne leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Madrid 84: Madrid leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Madrid 75: Madrid leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Madrid 50: Madrid leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Madrid 77: Madrid leads by 9 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Madrid 36: Cologne leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cologne and Madrid.

Your match

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

Cologne
58match

Wins on wellness and beaches with your weighting.

Madrid
Best match
66match

Wins on food and drink and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Cologne in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
81 mmrain in the month
7 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

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
CologneMadrid

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCologneMadrid
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
Elevation59 m663 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureCologneMadrid
City population1,025,5233,506,730
People per km²2,5325,801
Museums within 10 km4088
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km34

Where else could you go?

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