VacationSelector
Fort Lovrijenac above the sea, Dubrovnik
DubrovnikFort Lovrijenac above the sea
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace

Photos: Dubrovnik by Natalia Semenova, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License.

Dubrovnik 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 Dubrovnik for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Madrid for

  • live music and the arts
  • 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. Dubrovnik 74, Madrid 5: Dubrovnik leads by 69 points.
Food & drink. Dubrovnik 47, Madrid 80: Madrid leads by 33 points.
Culture & sights. Dubrovnik 72, Madrid 86: Madrid leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Dubrovnik 37, Madrid 85: Madrid leads by 48 points.
Nature & outdoors. Dubrovnik 70, Madrid 60: Dubrovnik leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Dubrovnik 66, Madrid 89: Madrid leads by 23 points.
Good for families. Dubrovnik 50, Madrid 68: Madrid leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Dubrovnik 60, Madrid 84: Madrid leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Dubrovnik 25, Madrid 75: Madrid leads by 50 points.
Affordability. Dubrovnik 28, Madrid 50: Madrid leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Dubrovnik 25, Madrid 77: Madrid leads by 52 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Dubrovnik 32, Madrid 36: Madrid leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Dubrovnik and Madrid.

Your match

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

Dubrovnik
49match

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

Madrid
Best match
66match

Wins on live music and the arts 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.

Dubrovnik in July

29 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
29 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

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
DubrovnikMadrid

Where the figures come from

Dubrovnik has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Dubrovnik's sunshine is measured 83 km from the centre, at Mostar.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Dubrovnik: 1999-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Dubrovnik / Cilipi (15.3 km from centre). Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDubrovnikMadrid
Official languageCroatianSpanish
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
Elevation10 m663 m
Main airportDubrovnik Ruđer Bošković Airport (DBV)16 km from centre76 non-stop destinationsAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureDubrovnikMadrid
City population41,5623,506,730
People per km²-5,801
Museums within 10 km788
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 Dubrovnik 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.