VacationSelector
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace
The Basilica of Saint-Sernin, Toulouse
ToulouseThe Basilica of Saint-Sernin

Photos: Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License; Toulouse by ZbebVial, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Madrid or Toulouse?

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
  • shopping
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Toulouse for

  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Toulouse’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, Toulouse 10: Toulouse leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Madrid 80, Toulouse 66: Madrid leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Madrid 86, Toulouse 64: Madrid leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Madrid 85, Toulouse 56: Madrid leads by 29 points.
Nature & outdoors. Madrid 60, Toulouse 58: Madrid leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Madrid 89, Toulouse 72: Madrid leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Madrid 68, Toulouse 62: Madrid leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Madrid 84, Toulouse 70: Madrid leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Madrid 75, Toulouse 50: Madrid leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Madrid 50, Toulouse 46: Madrid leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Madrid 77, Toulouse 58: Madrid leads by 19 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Madrid 36, Toulouse 27: Madrid leads by 9 points.
0255075100

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

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 shopping with your weighting.

Toulouse
53match

Wins on beaches 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

Toulouse in July

28 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
40 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
MadridToulouse

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre). Toulouse: 1991-2020 normals, Toulouse / Blagnac (7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMadridToulouse
Official languageSpanishFrench
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation663 m115 m
Main airportAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinationsToulouse-Blagnac Airport (TLS)7 km from centre84 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureMadridToulouse
City population3,506,730514,819
People per km²5,8014,352
Museums within 10 km8824
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km42

Where else could you go?

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