VacationSelector
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace
Hanok houses in Bukchon, Seoul
SeoulHanok houses in Bukchon

Photos: Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License; Seoul by 거열 박, Pexels License.

Madrid or Seoul?

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

  • live music and the arts
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Seoul for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Seoul’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, Seoul 18: Seoul leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. Madrid 80, Seoul 84: Seoul leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Madrid 86, Seoul 75: Madrid leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Madrid 85, Seoul 84: Madrid leads by 1 points.
Nature & outdoors. Madrid 60, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Madrid 89, Seoul 77: Madrid leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Madrid 68, Seoul 80: Seoul leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Madrid 84, Seoul 87: Seoul leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Madrid 75, Seoul 85: Seoul leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Madrid and Seoul are level on 50.
Live music & performing arts. Madrid 77, Seoul 63: Madrid leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Madrid 36, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 39 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Madrid and Seoul.

Your match

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

Madrid
66match

Wins on live music and the arts and day trips with your weighting.

Seoul
Best match
71match

Wins on wellness 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
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Seoul in July

29 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
422 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
MadridSeoul

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre). Seoul: 1991-2020 normals, Seoul (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMadridSeoul
Official languageSpanishKorean, Korean Sign Language
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Won (KRW)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number112Police 112, ambulance 119, fire 119
Elevation663 m38 m
Main airportAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinationsIncheon International Airport (ICN)49 km from centre162 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureMadridSeoul
City population3,506,7309,668,465
People per km²5,80115,973
Museums within 10 km8881
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km45
Swim season, months above 21 °C-2 months

Where else could you go?

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