VacationSelector
A jetty on the lagoon, Faro
FaroA jetty on the lagoon
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace

Photos: Faro by Efrem Efre, Pexels License; Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License.

Faro 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 Faro for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Madrid for

  • nightlife
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

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. Faro 74, Madrid 5: Faro leads by 69 points.
Food & drink. Faro 48, Madrid 80: Madrid leads by 32 points.
Culture & sights. Faro 35, Madrid 86: Madrid leads by 51 points.
Nightlife. Faro 32, Madrid 85: Madrid leads by 53 points.
Nature & outdoors. Faro 62, Madrid 60: Faro leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Faro 64, Madrid 89: Madrid leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Faro 60, Madrid 68: Madrid leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Faro 60, Madrid 84: Madrid leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Faro 35, Madrid 75: Madrid leads by 40 points.
Affordability. Faro 60, Madrid 50: Faro leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Faro 30, Madrid 77: Madrid leads by 47 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Faro 33, Madrid 36: Madrid leads by 3 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Faro
49match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Madrid
Best match
66match

Wins on nightlife 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.

Faro in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
14 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
FaroMadrid

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Faro: 1991-2020 normals, Faro / Aeroporto (2.8 km from centre). Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFaroMadrid
Official languagePortugueseSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation10 m663 m
Main airportFaro - Gago Coutinho International Airport (FAO)3 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureFaroMadrid
City population64,5603,506,730
People per km²3195,801
Museums within 10 km288
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km04
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months-

Where else could you go?

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