Photos: Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License; York by PAUL FARMER, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.
Madrid or York?
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
- live music and the arts
- food and drink
What lies behind each score is written up on Madrid’s own page.
Choose York for
- beaches
- nature and the outdoors
What lies behind each score is written up on York’s own page.
Scoreboard
Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.
What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Madrid and York.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts with your weighting.
Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors 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
York in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
Where the figures come from
York has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.
York's sunshine is measured 48 km from the centre, at Leeming.
Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre). York: 1991-2020 normals, Linton-On-Ouse (14.9 km from centre).
Before you go
| Measure | Madrid | York |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Spanish | English |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) | Pound Sterling (GBP) |
| Sockets | CF230 V, 50 Hz | G230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Left |
| Time zone | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer | UTC, UTC+1 in summer |
| Emergency number | 112 | 112 or 999 |
| Elevation | 663 m | 25 m |
| Main airport | Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinations | Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA)39 km from centre69 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 12 days | 8 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Madrid | York |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 3,506,730 | 208,400 |
| People per km² | 5,801 | 766 |
| Museums within 10 km | 88 | 24 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 4 | 2 |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Madrid or York somewhere new.