VacationSelector
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace
The Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower, Nairobi
NairobiThe Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower

Photos: Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License; Nairobi by Lmwangi, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Madrid or Nairobi?

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

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Nairobi for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Nairobi’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, Nairobi 4: Madrid leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Madrid 80, Nairobi 48: Madrid leads by 32 points.
Culture & sights. Madrid 86, Nairobi 35: Madrid leads by 51 points.
Nightlife. Madrid 85, Nairobi 58: Madrid leads by 27 points.
Nature & outdoors. Madrid 60, Nairobi 84: Nairobi leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Madrid 89, Nairobi 28: Madrid leads by 61 points.
Good for families. Madrid 68, Nairobi 55: Madrid leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Madrid 84, Nairobi 20: Madrid leads by 64 points.
Shopping & style. Madrid 75, Nairobi 45: Madrid leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Madrid 50, Nairobi 60: Nairobi leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Madrid 77, Nairobi 35: Madrid leads by 42 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Madrid 36, Nairobi 25: Madrid leads by 11 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Madrid and Nairobi.

Your match

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

Madrid
Best match
66match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Nairobi
41match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Madrid in July

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

Nairobi in July

24 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
11 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
MadridNairobi

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre). Nairobi: 1991-2020 normals, Nairobi ACC/FIC/RCC/MET/COM/ (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMadridNairobi
Official languageSpanishEnglish, Swahili
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Kenyan Shilling (KES)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+3
Emergency number112Police 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999
Elevation663 m1,661 m
Main airportAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinationsJomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO)13 km from centre60 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureMadridNairobi
City population3,506,7305,545,000
People per km²5,8017,967
Museums within 10 km884
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 Nairobi 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. 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.