VacationSelector
The Campanile, Trinity College, Dublin
DublinThe Campanile, Trinity College
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace

Photos: Dublin by David Kernan, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License.

Dublin 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 Dublin for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Madrid for

  • food and drink
  • prices
  • 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. Dublin 27, Madrid 5: Dublin leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Dublin 50, Madrid 80: Madrid leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Dublin 64, Madrid 86: Madrid leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Dublin 62, Madrid 85: Madrid leads by 23 points.
Nature & outdoors. Dublin 70, Madrid 60: Dublin leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Dublin 72, Madrid 89: Madrid leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Dublin 57, Madrid 68: Madrid leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Dublin 66, Madrid 84: Madrid leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Dublin 54, Madrid 75: Madrid leads by 21 points.
Affordability. Dublin 20, Madrid 50: Madrid leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Dublin 65, Madrid 77: Madrid leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Dublin 25, Madrid 36: Madrid leads by 11 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Dublin and Madrid.

Your match

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

Dublin
53match

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

Madrid
Best match
66match

Wins on food and drink 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.

Dublin in July

20 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
62 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
15 °Csea
17 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
DublinMadrid

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Dublin: 1991-2020 normals, Dublin Airport (9.3 km from centre). Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDublinMadrid
Official languageEnglish, IrishSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation20 m663 m
Main airportDublin Airport (DUB)9 km from centre200 non-stop destinationsAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureDublinMadrid
City population592,7133,506,730
People per km²5,1545,801
Museums within 10 km4088
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km14
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

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