VacationSelector
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace
Place d'Armes and Notre-Dame Basilica, Montreal
MontrealPlace d'Armes and Notre-Dame Basilica

Photos: Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License; Montreal by Arild Vågen, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Madrid or Montreal?

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 Madrid for

  • day trips
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

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

Choose Montreal for

  • wellness
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Montreal’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. Madrid 5, Montreal 25: Montreal leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Madrid 80, Montreal 78: Madrid leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Madrid 86, Montreal 60: Madrid leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Madrid 85, Montreal 75: Madrid leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Madrid 60, Montreal 66: Montreal leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Madrid 89, Montreal 55: Madrid leads by 34 points.
Good for families. Madrid and Montreal are level on 68.
Getting around. Madrid 84, Montreal 72: Madrid leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Madrid 75, Montreal 60: Madrid leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Madrid 50, Montreal 45: Madrid leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Madrid 77, Montreal 76: Madrid leads by 1 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Madrid 36, Montreal 57: Montreal leads by 21 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Madrid
Best match
66match

Wins on day trips and culture and sights with your weighting.

Montreal
61match

Wins on wellness and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Madrid in July

33 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
9 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Montreal in July

27 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
98 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
MadridMontreal

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre). Montreal: 1991-2020 normals, Montreal McTavish (3.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMadridMontreal
Official languageSpanishFrench, English
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation663 m31 m
Main airportAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinationsMontreal / Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL)16 km from centre166 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureMadridMontreal
City population3,506,7301,895,211
People per km²5,8013,806
Museums within 10 km8837
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km40

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Madrid or Montreal 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). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.