VacationSelector
Big Ben and Westminster Bridge, London
LondonBig Ben and Westminster Bridge
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace

Photos: London by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License.

London 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 London for

  • live music and the arts
  • beaches
  • shopping

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

Choose Madrid for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

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. London 25, Madrid 5: London leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. London 84, Madrid 80: London leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. London 94, Madrid 86: London leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. London 88, Madrid 85: London leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. London 57, Madrid 60: Madrid leads by 3 points.
Day trips. London 90, Madrid 89: London leads by 1 points.
Good for families. London 82, Madrid 68: London leads by 14 points.
Getting around. London 85, Madrid 84: London leads by 1 points.
Shopping & style. London 95, Madrid 75: London leads by 20 points.
Affordability. London 15, Madrid 50: Madrid leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. London 98, Madrid 77: London leads by 21 points.
Wellness & relaxation. London 40, Madrid 36: London leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: London and Madrid.

Your match

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

London
Best match
71match

Wins on live music and the arts and beaches with your weighting.

Madrid
66match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

London in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine 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

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
LondonMadrid

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. London: 1992-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, London Weather Centre (1.3 km from centre). Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLondonMadrid
Official languageEnglishSpanish
CurrencyPound Sterling (GBP)Euro (EUR)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112 or 999112
Elevation4 m663 m
Main airportLondon Heathrow Airport (LHR)23 km from centre224 non-stop destinationsAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year8 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureLondonMadrid
City population8,799,7283,506,730
People per km²5,5985,801
Museums within 10 km21688
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 London 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.