VacationSelector
The cathedral from the gardens, Malaga
MalagaThe cathedral from the gardens
Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo
TokyoShibuya Crossing

Photos: Malaga by Holger Uwe Schmitt, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Tokyo by Benh LIEU SONG, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Malaga or Tokyo?

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 Malaga for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Tokyo for

  • shopping
  • live music and the arts
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Tokyo’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. Malaga 77, Tokyo 40: Malaga leads by 37 points.
Food & drink. Malaga 68, Tokyo 98: Tokyo leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Malaga 65, Tokyo 84: Tokyo leads by 19 points.
Nightlife. Malaga 62, Tokyo 86: Tokyo leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Malaga 73, Tokyo 68: Malaga leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Malaga 87, Tokyo 85: Malaga leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Malaga 70, Tokyo 95: Tokyo leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Malaga 70, Tokyo 98: Tokyo leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Malaga 55, Tokyo 99: Tokyo leads by 44 points.
Affordability. Malaga 55, Tokyo 48: Malaga leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Malaga 45, Tokyo 86: Tokyo leads by 41 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Malaga 42, Tokyo 78: Tokyo leads by 36 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Malaga and Tokyo.

Your match

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

Malaga
64match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Tokyo
Best match
80match

Wins on shopping and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Malaga in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
22 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Tokyo in July

30 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
157 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
23 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
MalagaTokyo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Malaga: 1991-2020 normals, Malaga / Aeropuerto (8.2 km from centre). Tokyo: 1991-2020 normals, Tokyo (3.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMalagaTokyo
Official languageSpanishJapanese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Yen (JPY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number112Police 110, fire 119
Elevation18 m6 m
Main airportMálaga-Costa del Sol Airport (AGP)8 km from centre166 non-stop destinationsTokyo Haneda International Airport (HND)18 km from centre98 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureMalagaTokyo
City population599,06314,264,798
People per km²1,5176,501
Museums within 10 km32192
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Malaga or Tokyo 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.