Photos: Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License; Plovdiv by Ad Meskens, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.
Madrid or Plovdiv?
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
- shopping
- live music and the arts
What lies behind each score is written up on Madrid’s own page.
Choose Plovdiv for
- prices
- nature and the outdoors
- wellness
What lies behind each score is written up on Plovdiv’s own page.
Scoreboard
Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.
What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Madrid and Plovdiv.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Wins on nightlife and shopping with your weighting.
Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors 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
Plovdiv in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
Where the figures come from
Plovdiv has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.
Plovdiv's sunshine is measured 75 km from the centre, at Kurdjali.
Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre). Plovdiv: 1997-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Plovdiv (1.2 km from centre).
Before you go
| Measure | Madrid | Plovdiv |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Spanish | Bulgarian |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) | Euro (EUR) |
| Sockets | CF230 V, 50 Hz | CF230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer | UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer |
| Emergency number | 112 | 112 |
| Elevation | 663 m | 172 m |
| Main airport | Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinations | Plovdiv International Airport (PDV)12 km from centre8 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 12 days | 15 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Madrid | Plovdiv |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 3,506,730 | 333,994 |
| People per km² | 5,801 | 3,274 |
| Museums within 10 km | 88 | 18 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 4 | 0 |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Madrid or Plovdiv somewhere new.