VacationSelector
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace
The Opera House on the fjord, Oslo
OsloThe Opera House on the fjord

Photos: Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License; Oslo by Beata May, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Madrid or Oslo?

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
  • day trips
  • prices

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

Choose Oslo for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Oslo’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, Oslo 36: Oslo leads by 31 points.
Food & drink. Madrid 80, Oslo 55: Madrid leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Madrid 86, Oslo 66: Madrid leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Madrid 85, Oslo 48: Madrid leads by 37 points.
Nature & outdoors. Madrid 60, Oslo 82: Oslo leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Madrid 89, Oslo 52: Madrid leads by 37 points.
Good for families. Madrid 68, Oslo 63: Madrid leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Madrid 84, Oslo 85: Oslo leads by 1 points.
Shopping & style. Madrid 75, Oslo 50: Madrid leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Madrid 50, Oslo 14: Madrid leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Madrid 77, Oslo 62: Madrid leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Madrid 36, Oslo 60: Oslo leads by 24 points.
0255075100

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

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 day trips with your weighting.

Oslo
56match

Wins on beaches 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
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Oslo in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
86 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
18 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
MadridOslo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre). Oslo: 1991-2020 normals, Oslo-Blindern (4.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMadridOslo
Official languageSpanishNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, Sámi
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Norwegian Krone (NOK)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112Police 112, ambulance 113, fire 110
Elevation663 m23 m
Main airportAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinationsOslo-Gardermoen International Airport (OSL)37 km from centre147 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureMadridOslo
City population3,506,730717,710
People per km²5,801-
Museums within 10 km8860
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km40
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

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