VacationSelector
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace
The cathedral and the Leaning Tower, Pisa
PisaThe cathedral and the Leaning Tower

Photos: Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License; Pisa by Bruno Kraler, Pexels License.

Madrid or Pisa?

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
  • shopping

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

Choose Pisa for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Pisa’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, Pisa 58: Pisa leads by 53 points.
Food & drink. Madrid 80, Pisa 55: Madrid leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Madrid 86, Pisa 68: Madrid leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Madrid 85, Pisa 40: Madrid leads by 45 points.
Nature & outdoors. Madrid 60, Pisa 62: Pisa leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Madrid 89, Pisa 92: Pisa leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Madrid 68, Pisa 52: Madrid leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Madrid 84, Pisa 76: Madrid leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Madrid 75, Pisa 38: Madrid leads by 37 points.
Affordability. Madrid 50, Pisa 55: Pisa leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Madrid 77, Pisa 38: Madrid leads by 39 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Madrid 36, Pisa 45: Pisa leads by 9 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Madrid and Pisa.

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.

Pisa
57match

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

Pisa in July

30 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
32 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
MadridPisa

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre). Pisa: 1991-2020 normals, Pisa / S. Giusto (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMadridPisa
Official languageSpanishItalian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation663 m4 m
Main airportAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinationsPisa International Airport (PSA)4 km from centre82 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureMadridPisa
City population3,506,73088,737
People per km²5,801479
Museums within 10 km8827
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km43
Swim season, months above 21 °C-4 months

Where else could you go?

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