VacationSelector
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace

Photos: Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License.

Lima 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 Lima for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • food and drink

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

Choose Madrid for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • families

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. Lima 42, Madrid 5: Lima leads by 37 points.
Food & drink. Lima 88, Madrid 80: Lima leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Lima 66, Madrid 86: Madrid leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Lima 62, Madrid 85: Madrid leads by 23 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lima 45, Madrid 60: Madrid leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Lima 34, Madrid 89: Madrid leads by 55 points.
Good for families. Lima 42, Madrid 68: Madrid leads by 26 points.
Getting around. Lima 35, Madrid 84: Madrid leads by 49 points.
Shopping & style. Lima 52, Madrid 75: Madrid leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Lima 70, Madrid 50: Lima leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lima 53, Madrid 77: Madrid leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lima 25, Madrid 36: Madrid leads by 11 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lima and Madrid.

Your match

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

Lima
51match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Madrid
Best match
66match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Lima in July

19 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
1 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
12 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

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
LimaMadrid

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lima: 1991-2020 normals, Lima-Callao / Aerop. Internacional Jorgechavez (10.9 km from centre). Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLimaMadrid
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaSpanish
CurrencySol (PEN)Euro (EUR)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number111 or 911112
Elevation154 m663 m
Main airportJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinationsAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureLimaMadrid
City population9,943,8003,506,730
People per km²3,7215,801
Museums within 10 km4788
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km24
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months-

Where else could you go?

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