VacationSelector
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace
Santo Domingo church behind agaves, Oaxaca
OaxacaSanto Domingo church behind agaves

Photos: Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License; Oaxaca by Öskr Rck, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Madrid or Oaxaca?

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

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

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

Choose Oaxaca for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Oaxaca’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 and Oaxaca are level on 5.
Food & drink. Madrid 80, Oaxaca 84: Oaxaca leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Madrid 86, Oaxaca 74: Madrid leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Madrid 85, Oaxaca 40: Madrid leads by 45 points.
Nature & outdoors. Madrid 60, Oaxaca 62: Oaxaca leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Madrid 89, Oaxaca 65: Madrid leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Madrid 68, Oaxaca 40: Madrid leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Madrid 84, Oaxaca 55: Madrid leads by 29 points.
Shopping & style. Madrid 75, Oaxaca 62: Madrid leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Madrid 50, Oaxaca 77: Oaxaca leads by 27 points.
Live music & performing arts. Madrid 77, Oaxaca 38: Madrid leads by 39 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Madrid 36, Oaxaca 50: Oaxaca leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Madrid and Oaxaca.

Your match

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

Madrid
Best match
66match

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

Oaxaca
54match

Wins on prices and wellness 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

Oaxaca in July

28 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
80 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
MadridOaxaca

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre). Oaxaca: 1961-1990 normals, Oaxaca, Oax. (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMadridOaxaca
Official languageSpanishSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-6
Emergency number112911
Elevation663 m1,555 m
Main airportAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinationsXoxocotlán International Airport (OAX)7 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureMadridOaxaca
City population3,506,730258,913
People per km²5,8013,028
Museums within 10 km8810
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km42

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Madrid or Oaxaca 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.