London or Madrid?

1,253 km apart, in United Kingdom and Spain. Each is scored month by month on the same ten years of climate readings, the public holidays that crowd it, and what the flight costs. This is where they part, and when.

• London United Kingdom · best May, Jun, Aug
• Madrid Spain · best May, Jun, Sep

Month by month

Each cell is that destination's own verdict for the month — sweet spot, ok or avoid — with its typical daily high and its rainy days ("11d"). The pick goes to the better verdict; with the same verdict, to the higher score, unless the two are within a whisker of each other, when it is either. A month both would avoid is neither. A dot marks a busy month.

Before you go

• Cost of living — London: expensive, about 89% of the United States; Madrid: moderate, about 65% of the United States.
• Currency — London: Pound sterling; Madrid: Q4916.
• Plugs — London: type G, 230 V; Madrid: type C and F, 230 V.
• Driving — London: on the left; Madrid: on the right.
• Travel advice — London: —; Madrid: no advice against travel.

Facts from Wikidata (CC0), the UK Foreign Office (Open Government Licence) and the World Bank. The advisory is written for British travellers; entry rules depend on your passport.

Between them

1,253 km as the crow flies, about 2h 27m in the air.By train, about 21h 09m · TGV INOUI 9706 · AVE INT. By bus, about 19h 07m · BlaBlaCar Bus · EST 9009. By road, 1,720 km and about 18h 38m.

The flight time is estimated from the distance. A road, train or bus is named only where it was measured — flights from AeroDataBox, roads from OpenRouteService, timetables via Transitous — and none of it is a fare; the searches on each destination's page are where prices live.

Also compared

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• London or Athens
• London or Barcelona
• London or Brussels
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• London or Paris
• London or Prague

Every verdict here is the destination's own: ten years of climate readings, the public holidays that crowd it, and what the flight costs. The comparison is the difference between two pages, not a third opinion.