VacationSelector
The Jet d'Eau and a lake boat, Geneva
GenevaThe Jet d'Eau and a lake boat
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace

Photos: Geneva by Diviosen, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License.

Geneva 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 Geneva for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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

Choose Madrid for

  • nightlife
  • prices
  • culture and sights

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. Geneva 45, Madrid 5: Geneva leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Geneva 55, Madrid 80: Madrid leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Geneva 58, Madrid 86: Madrid leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Geneva 38, Madrid 85: Madrid leads by 47 points.
Nature & outdoors. Geneva 82, Madrid 60: Geneva leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Geneva 80, Madrid 89: Madrid leads by 9 points.
Good for families. Geneva 57, Madrid 68: Madrid leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Geneva 86, Madrid 84: Geneva leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Geneva 68, Madrid 75: Madrid leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Geneva 5, Madrid 50: Madrid leads by 45 points.
Live music & performing arts. Geneva 60, Madrid 77: Madrid leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Geneva 55, Madrid 36: Geneva leads by 19 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Geneva and Madrid.

Your match

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

Geneva
57match

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

Madrid
Best match
66match

Wins on nightlife 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.

Geneva in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
77 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
15 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
GenevaMadrid

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Geneva: 1991-2020 normals, Geneve-Cointrin (5.7 km from centre). Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGenevaMadrid
Official languageFrench, German, Italian, RomanshSpanish
CurrencySwiss Franc (CHF)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCJ230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation403 m663 m
Main airportGeneva International Airport (GVA)5 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureGenevaMadrid
City population211,1523,506,730
People per km²13,2805,801
Museums within 10 km3488
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km24

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Geneva or Madrid somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national 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). 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. 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.