VacationSelector
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace
The Iguazu Falls in the green jungle, Puerto Iguazu
Puerto IguazuThe Iguazu Falls in the green jungle

Photos: Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License; Puerto Iguazu by Muhammed Ballan, Pexels License.

Madrid or Puerto Iguazu?

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

  • culture and sights
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Puerto Iguazu for

  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Puerto Iguazu’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 Puerto Iguazu are level on 5.
Food & drink. Madrid 80, Puerto Iguazu 28: Madrid leads by 52 points.
Culture & sights. Madrid 86, Puerto Iguazu 9: Madrid leads by 77 points.
Nightlife. Madrid 85, Puerto Iguazu 14: Madrid leads by 71 points.
Nature & outdoors. Madrid 60, Puerto Iguazu 95: Puerto Iguazu leads by 35 points.
Day trips. Madrid 89, Puerto Iguazu 33: Madrid leads by 56 points.
Good for families. Madrid 68, Puerto Iguazu 55: Madrid leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Madrid 84, Puerto Iguazu 54: Madrid leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Madrid 75, Puerto Iguazu 17: Madrid leads by 58 points.
Affordability. Madrid 50, Puerto Iguazu 48: Madrid leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Madrid 77, Puerto Iguazu 7: Madrid leads by 70 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Madrid 36, Puerto Iguazu 34: Madrid leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Madrid and Puerto Iguazu.

Your match

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

Madrid
Best match
66match

Wins on culture and sights and nightlife with your weighting.

Puerto Iguazu
33match

Wins on 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

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

Puerto Iguazu in July

22 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
103 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
MadridPuerto Iguazu

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre). Puerto Iguazu: 1991-2020 normals, Iguazu Aerodrome (17.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMadridPuerto Iguazu
Official languageSpanishSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Argentine Peso (ARS)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-3
Emergency number112117 or 911
Elevation663 m162 m
Main airportAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinationsCataratas Del Iguazú International Airport (IGR)18 km from centre8 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureMadridPuerto Iguazu
City population3,506,73054,903
People per km²5,801-
Museums within 10 km880
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km41

Where else could you go?

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