VacationSelector
The Cloth Hall on the Main Square, Krakow
KrakowThe Cloth Hall on the Main Square
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace

Photos: Krakow by Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License.

Krakow 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 Krakow for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Madrid for

  • shopping
  • food and drink
  • 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. Krakow 9, Madrid 5: Krakow leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Krakow 55, Madrid 80: Madrid leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Krakow 77, Madrid 86: Madrid leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Krakow 68, Madrid 85: Madrid leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Krakow 62, Madrid 60: Krakow leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Krakow 76, Madrid 89: Madrid leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Krakow 58, Madrid 68: Madrid leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Krakow 74, Madrid 84: Madrid leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Krakow 48, Madrid 75: Madrid leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Krakow 72, Madrid 50: Krakow leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Krakow 55, Madrid 77: Madrid leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Krakow and Madrid are level on 36.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Krakow
58match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

Madrid
Best match
66match

Wins on shopping and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Krakow in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
100 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
16 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

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
KrakowMadrid

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Krakow: 1991-2020 normals, Krakow (10.1 km from centre). Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKrakowMadrid
Official languagePolishSpanish
CurrencyZloty (PLN)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation219 m663 m
Main airportKraków John Paul II International Airport (KRK)11 km from centre132 non-stop destinationsAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureKrakowMadrid
City population804,2373,506,730
People per km²2,4595,801
Museums within 10 km11388
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km44

Where else could you go?

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