VacationSelector
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace
The old town below the fortress, Salzburg
SalzburgThe old town below the fortress

Photos: Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License; Salzburg by Leonhard Niederwimmer, Pexels License.

Madrid or Salzburg?

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
  • food and drink
  • shopping

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

Choose Salzburg for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Salzburg’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, Salzburg 35: Salzburg leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Madrid 80, Salzburg 45: Madrid leads by 35 points.
Culture & sights. Madrid 86, Salzburg 72: Madrid leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Madrid 85, Salzburg 25: Madrid leads by 60 points.
Nature & outdoors. Madrid 60, Salzburg 86: Salzburg leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Madrid 89, Salzburg 80: Madrid leads by 9 points.
Good for families. Madrid 68, Salzburg 65: Madrid leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Madrid 84, Salzburg 72: Madrid leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Madrid 75, Salzburg 48: Madrid leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Madrid 50, Salzburg 32: Madrid leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Madrid 77, Salzburg 80: Salzburg leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Madrid 36, Salzburg 55: Salzburg leads by 19 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Madrid and Salzburg.

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 food and drink with your weighting.

Salzburg
58match

Wins on beaches 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

Salzburg in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
159 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
MadridSalzburg

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre). Salzburg: 1991-2020 normals, Salzburg (3.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMadridSalzburg
Official languageSpanishGerman, Austrian Sign Language
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation663 m424 m
Main airportAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinationsSalzburg Airport (SZG)3 km from centre64 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureMadridSalzburg
City population3,506,730155,021
People per km²5,8012,360
Museums within 10 km8838
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km43

Where else could you go?

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