VacationSelector
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace
The Hofburg and Heldenplatz, Vienna
ViennaThe Hofburg and Heldenplatz

Photos: Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License; Vienna by C.Stadler/Bwag, CC BY-SA 3.0 AT, cropped.

Madrid or Vienna?

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
  • day trips
  • shopping

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

Choose Vienna for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Vienna’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, Vienna 27: Vienna leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Madrid 80, Vienna 68: Madrid leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Madrid 86, Vienna 89: Vienna leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Madrid 85, Vienna 50: Madrid leads by 35 points.
Nature & outdoors. Madrid 60, Vienna 62: Vienna leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Madrid 89, Vienna 74: Madrid leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Madrid 68, Vienna 77: Vienna leads by 9 points.
Getting around. Madrid 84, Vienna 90: Vienna leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Madrid 75, Vienna 62: Madrid leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Madrid 50, Vienna 44: Madrid leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Madrid 77, Vienna 96: Vienna leads by 19 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Madrid 36, Vienna 58: Vienna leads by 22 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Madrid and Vienna.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Madrid
66match

Wins on nightlife and day trips with your weighting.

Vienna
66match

Wins on beaches and wellness 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

Vienna in July

27 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
78 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
MadridVienna

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre). Vienna: 1991-2020 normals, Wien / Hohe Warte (4.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMadridVienna
Official languageSpanishGerman, Austrian Sign Language
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation663 m151 m
Main airportAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinationsVienna International Airport (VIE)18 km from centre202 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureMadridVienna
City population3,506,7302,028,289
People per km²5,8014,890
Museums within 10 km88152
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km43

Where else could you go?

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