VacationSelector
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace
The White Tower from the promenade, Thessaloniki
ThessalonikiThe White Tower from the promenade

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

Madrid or Thessaloniki?

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

  • shopping
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

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

Choose Thessaloniki for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Thessaloniki’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, Thessaloniki 55: Thessaloniki leads by 50 points.
Food & drink. Madrid 80, Thessaloniki 77: Madrid leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Madrid 86, Thessaloniki 73: Madrid leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Madrid 85, Thessaloniki 76: Madrid leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Madrid 60, Thessaloniki 66: Thessaloniki leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Madrid 89, Thessaloniki 74: Madrid leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Madrid 68, Thessaloniki 50: Madrid leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Madrid 84, Thessaloniki 60: Madrid leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Madrid 75, Thessaloniki 50: Madrid leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Madrid 50, Thessaloniki 66: Thessaloniki leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Madrid 77, Thessaloniki 52: Madrid leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Madrid 36, Thessaloniki 33: Madrid leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Madrid and Thessaloniki.

Your match

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

Madrid
Best match
66match

Wins on shopping and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Thessaloniki
61match

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

Thessaloniki in July

32 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
MadridThessaloniki

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre). Thessaloniki: 1991-2020 normals, Thessaloniki Airport (14 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMadridThessaloniki
Official languageSpanishGreek
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation663 m6 m
Main airportAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinationsThessaloniki Macedonia International Airport (SKG)14 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureMadridThessaloniki
City population3,506,730309,617
People per km²5,80116,042
Museums within 10 km8832
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km41
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Madrid or Thessaloniki 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.