VacationSelector
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace
São Paulo Cathedral, Sao Paulo
Sao PauloSão Paulo Cathedral

Photos: Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License; Sao Paulo by Webysther Nunes, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Madrid or Sao Paulo?

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

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Sao Paulo for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Sao Paulo’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, Sao Paulo 42: Sao Paulo leads by 37 points.
Food & drink. Madrid 80, Sao Paulo 84: Sao Paulo leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Madrid 86, Sao Paulo 60: Madrid leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Madrid 85, Sao Paulo 86: Sao Paulo leads by 1 points.
Nature & outdoors. Madrid 60, Sao Paulo 48: Madrid leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Madrid 89, Sao Paulo 47: Madrid leads by 42 points.
Good for families. Madrid 68, Sao Paulo 52: Madrid leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Madrid 84, Sao Paulo 44: Madrid leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. Madrid 75, Sao Paulo 70: Madrid leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Madrid 50, Sao Paulo 62: Sao Paulo leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Madrid 77, Sao Paulo 76: Madrid leads by 1 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Madrid 36, Sao Paulo 25: Madrid leads by 11 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Madrid and Sao Paulo.

Your match

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

Madrid
Best match
66match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

Sao Paulo
58match

Wins on beaches 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

Sao Paulo in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
53 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
MadridSao Paulo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre). Sao Paulo: 1991-2020 normals, Sao Paulo (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMadridSao Paulo
Official languageSpanishPortuguese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-3
Emergency number112Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation663 m760 m
Main airportAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinationsSão Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU)21 km from centre104 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureMadridSao Paulo
City population3,506,73011,451,999
People per km²5,8017,519
Museums within 10 km8890
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 Sao Paulo 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.