VacationSelector
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace
The US Capitol, Washington DC
Washington DCThe US Capitol

Photos: Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License; Washington DC by Guohua Song, Pexels License.

Madrid or Washington DC?

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
  • prices

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

Choose Washington DC for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Washington DC’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, Washington DC 12: Washington DC leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Madrid 80, Washington DC 67: Madrid leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Madrid 86, Washington DC 84: Madrid leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Madrid 85, Washington DC 57: Madrid leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Madrid 60, Washington DC 64: Washington DC leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Madrid 89, Washington DC 73: Madrid leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Madrid 68, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Madrid 84, Washington DC 72: Madrid leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Madrid 75, Washington DC 52: Madrid leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Madrid 50, Washington DC 28: Madrid leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Madrid 77, Washington DC 67: Madrid leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Madrid 36, Washington DC 26: Madrid leads by 10 points.
0255075100

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

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.

Washington DC
56match

Wins on beaches and families 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

Washington DC in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
108 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
MadridWashington DC

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre). Washington DC: 1991-2020 normals, Washington National Airport (5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMadridWashington DC
Official languageSpanish-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation663 m72 m
Main airportAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinationsRonald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)5 km from centre105 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureMadridWashington DC
City population3,506,730689,545
People per km²5,8013,896
Museums within 10 km8898
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km40
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 Washington DC 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

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.