VacationSelector
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Madrid or Zurich?

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

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • food and drink

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

Choose Zurich for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Zurich’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, Zurich 45: Zurich leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Madrid 80, Zurich 53: Madrid leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Madrid 86, Zurich 58: Madrid leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Madrid 85, Zurich 62: Madrid leads by 23 points.
Nature & outdoors. Madrid 60, Zurich 80: Zurich leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Madrid 89, Zurich 84: Madrid leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Madrid 68, Zurich 76: Zurich leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Madrid 84, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 11 points.
Shopping & style. Madrid 75, Zurich 66: Madrid leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Madrid 50, Zurich 3: Madrid leads by 47 points.
Live music & performing arts. Madrid 77, Zurich 70: Madrid leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Madrid 36, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 22 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Madrid and Zurich.

Your match

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

Madrid
Best match
66match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Zurich
63match

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

Zurich in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
MadridZurich

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMadridZurich
Official languageSpanishFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation663 m408 m
Main airportAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureMadridZurich
City population3,506,730440,935
People per km²5,8015,016
Museums within 10 km8863
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km41

Where else could you go?

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