VacationSelector
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace
The House of the Blackheads at dusk, Riga
RigaThe House of the Blackheads at dusk

Photos: Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License; Riga by Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Madrid or Riga?

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
  • day trips

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

Choose Riga for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Riga’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, Riga 40: Riga leads by 35 points.
Food & drink. Madrid 80, Riga 52: Madrid leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. Madrid 86, Riga 66: Madrid leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Madrid 85, Riga 52: Madrid leads by 33 points.
Nature & outdoors. Madrid 60, Riga 55: Madrid leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Madrid 89, Riga 60: Madrid leads by 29 points.
Good for families. Madrid 68, Riga 50: Madrid leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Madrid 84, Riga 68: Madrid leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Madrid 75, Riga 45: Madrid leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Madrid 50, Riga 62: Riga leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Madrid 77, Riga 65: Madrid leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Madrid 36, Riga 50: Riga leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Madrid and Riga.

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 shopping with your weighting.

Riga
55match

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

Riga in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
18 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
MadridRiga

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre). Riga: 1991-2020 normals, Riga (4.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMadridRiga
Official languageSpanishLatvian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation663 m6 m
Main airportAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinationsRiga International Airport (RIX)9 km from centre93 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days-

By the numbers

MeasureMadridRiga
City population3,506,730588,911
People per km²5,801-
Museums within 10 km8812
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km41
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 Riga 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.