VacationSelector
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace
The Cap Spartel lighthouse among palms, Tangier
TangierThe Cap Spartel lighthouse among palms

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

Madrid or Tangier?

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
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

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

Choose Tangier for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Tangier’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, Tangier 50: Tangier leads by 45 points.
Food & drink. Madrid 80, Tangier 58: Madrid leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Madrid 86, Tangier 57: Madrid leads by 29 points.
Nightlife. Madrid 85, Tangier 30: Madrid leads by 55 points.
Nature & outdoors. Madrid 60, Tangier 55: Madrid leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Madrid 89, Tangier 72: Madrid leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Madrid 68, Tangier 35: Madrid leads by 33 points.
Getting around. Madrid 84, Tangier 40: Madrid leads by 44 points.
Shopping & style. Madrid 75, Tangier 42: Madrid leads by 33 points.
Affordability. Madrid 50, Tangier 76: Tangier leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Madrid 77, Tangier 28: Madrid leads by 49 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Madrid 36, Tangier 50: Tangier leads by 14 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Madrid and Tangier.

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 live music and the arts with your weighting.

Tangier
49match

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
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Tangier in July

29 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
22 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
MadridTangier

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre). Tangier: 1991-2020 normals, Tanger Aerodrome (9.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMadridTangier
Official languageSpanishArabic, Standard Moroccan Tamazight
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Moroccan Dirham (MAD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1
Emergency number112Police 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15
Elevation663 m56 m
Main airportAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinationsTangier Ibn Battuta Airport (TNG)11 km from centre50 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureMadridTangier
City population3,506,7301,275,428
People per km²5,8016,393
Museums within 10 km886
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km41
Swim season, months above 21 °C-3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Madrid or Tangier 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.