VacationSelector
Big Ben and Westminster Bridge, London
LondonBig Ben and Westminster Bridge
The cathedral from the gardens, Malaga
MalagaThe cathedral from the gardens

Photos: London by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Malaga by Holger Uwe Schmitt, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

London or Malaga?

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
  • shopping
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Malaga for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Malaga’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, Malaga 77: Malaga leads by 52 points.
Food & drink. London 84, Malaga 68: London leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. London 94, Malaga 65: London leads by 29 points.
Nightlife. London 88, Malaga 62: London leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. London 57, Malaga 73: Malaga leads by 16 points.
Day trips. London 90, Malaga 87: London leads by 3 points.
Good for families. London 82, Malaga 70: London leads by 12 points.
Getting around. London 85, Malaga 70: London leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. London 95, Malaga 55: London leads by 40 points.
Affordability. London 15, Malaga 55: Malaga leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. London 98, Malaga 45: London leads by 53 points.
Wellness & relaxation. London 40, Malaga 42: Malaga leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: London and Malaga.

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 shopping with your weighting.

Malaga
64match

Wins on beaches 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.

London in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Malaga in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
22 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
LondonMalaga

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). Malaga: 1991-2020 normals, Malaga / Aeropuerto (8.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLondonMalaga
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 m18 m
Main airportLondon Heathrow Airport (LHR)23 km from centre224 non-stop destinationsMálaga-Costa del Sol Airport (AGP)8 km from centre166 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year8 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureLondonMalaga
City population8,799,728599,063
People per km²5,5981,517
Museums within 10 km21632
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km41
Swim season, months above 21 °C-3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow London or Malaga 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.