VacationSelector
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace
The terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía, Santiago
SantiagoThe terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía

Photos: Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License; Santiago by Rjcastillo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Madrid or Santiago?

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
  • shopping

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

Choose Santiago for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Santiago’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, Santiago 12: Santiago leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Madrid 80, Santiago 60: Madrid leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Madrid 86, Santiago 52: Madrid leads by 34 points.
Nightlife. Madrid 85, Santiago 60: Madrid leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Madrid 60, Santiago 83: Santiago leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Madrid 89, Santiago 70: Madrid leads by 19 points.
Good for families. Madrid 68, Santiago 57: Madrid leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Madrid 84, Santiago 68: Madrid leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Madrid 75, Santiago 52: Madrid leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Madrid 50, Santiago 58: Santiago leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Madrid 77, Santiago 55: Madrid leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Madrid 36, Santiago 37: Santiago leads by 1 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Madrid and Santiago.

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.

Santiago
55match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and prices 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

Santiago in July

14 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
52 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
MadridSantiago

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre). Santiago: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago Q. Normal (3.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMadridSantiago
Official languageSpanishSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Chilean Peso (CLP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCL220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency number112Police 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132
Elevation663 m575 m
Main airportAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinationsComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)14 km from centre67 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureMadridSantiago
City population3,506,7306,257,516
People per km²5,8017,468
Museums within 10 km8854
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km40

Where else could you go?

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