VacationSelector
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace
The church of San Francisco under a blue sky, Quito
QuitoThe church of San Francisco under a blue sky

Photos: Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License; Quito by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Madrid or Quito?

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
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Quito for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Quito’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 Quito are level on 5.
Food & drink. Madrid 80, Quito 54: Madrid leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Madrid 86, Quito 77: Madrid leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Madrid 85, Quito 40: Madrid leads by 45 points.
Nature & outdoors. Madrid 60, Quito 86: Quito leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Madrid 89, Quito 55: Madrid leads by 34 points.
Good for families. Madrid 68, Quito 32: Madrid leads by 36 points.
Getting around. Madrid 84, Quito 45: Madrid leads by 39 points.
Shopping & style. Madrid 75, Quito 40: Madrid leads by 35 points.
Affordability. Madrid 50, Quito 78: Quito leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Madrid 77, Quito 38: Madrid leads by 39 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Madrid 36, Quito 44: Quito leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Madrid and Quito.

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 getting around with your weighting.

Quito
50match

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

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

Quito in July

18 °Cdaytime high
5 °Cnight-time low
32 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
MadridQuito

Where the figures come from

Quito's station stands 208 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre). Quito: 1961-1990 normals, Izobamba-Santa Catalina (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMadridQuito
Official languageSpanishSpanish, Shuar, Northern Quichua
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112911
Elevation663 m2,850 m
Main airportAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinationsMariscal Sucre International Airport (UIO)20 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureMadridQuito
City population3,506,7301,763,275
People per km²5,8014,735
Museums within 10 km8816
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 Quito 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.