VacationSelector
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace
Valletta from the water, Valletta
VallettaValletta from the water

Photos: Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License; Valletta by Pho Tomass, Pexels License.

Madrid or Valletta?

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
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Valletta for

  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Valletta’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, Valletta 68: Valletta leads by 63 points.
Food & drink. Madrid 80, Valletta 55: Madrid leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Madrid 86, Valletta 76: Madrid leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Madrid 85, Valletta 46: Madrid leads by 39 points.
Nature & outdoors. Madrid 60, Valletta 56: Madrid leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Madrid 89, Valletta 76: Madrid leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Madrid 68, Valletta 58: Madrid leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Madrid 84, Valletta 62: Madrid leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Madrid 75, Valletta 38: Madrid leads by 37 points.
Affordability. Madrid and Valletta are level on 50.
Live music & performing arts. Madrid 77, Valletta 44: Madrid leads by 33 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Madrid 36, Valletta 32: Madrid leads by 4 points.
0255075100

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

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.

Valletta
55match

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
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Valletta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
MadridValletta

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

Before you go

MeasureMadridValletta
Official languageSpanishEnglish, Maltese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation663 m56 m
Main airportAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinationsMalta International Airport (MLA)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureMadridValletta
City population3,506,7305,197
People per km²5,8016,496
Museums within 10 km8816
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km43
Swim season, months above 21 °C-6 months

Where else could you go?

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