VacationSelector
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace

Photos: Johannesburg by K, Pexels License; Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License.

Johannesburg 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 Johannesburg for

  • prices

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

Choose Madrid for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • 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. Johannesburg and Madrid are level on 5.
Food & drink. Johannesburg 58, Madrid 80: Madrid leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Johannesburg 56, Madrid 86: Madrid leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Johannesburg 62, Madrid 85: Madrid leads by 23 points.
Nature & outdoors. Johannesburg 55, Madrid 60: Madrid leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Johannesburg 52, Madrid 89: Madrid leads by 37 points.
Good for families. Johannesburg 42, Madrid 68: Madrid leads by 26 points.
Getting around. Johannesburg 18, Madrid 84: Madrid leads by 66 points.
Shopping & style. Johannesburg 58, Madrid 75: Madrid leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Johannesburg 72, Madrid 50: Johannesburg leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Johannesburg 55, Madrid 77: Madrid leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Johannesburg 28, Madrid 36: Madrid leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Johannesburg and Madrid.

Your match

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

Johannesburg
47match

Wins on prices with your weighting.

Madrid
Best match
66match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Johannesburg in July

19 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
11 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

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
JohannesburgMadrid

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Johannesburg: 2005-2019 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Johannesburg B / Roosevelt Park (7.3 km from centre). Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJohannesburgMadrid
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign LanguageSpanish
CurrencyRand (ZAR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCMN230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+2UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation1,753 m663 m
Main airportO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinationsAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureJohannesburgMadrid
City population4,803,2623,506,730
People per km²2,9225,801
Museums within 10 km1488
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 Johannesburg 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). 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.