🇪🇸
Madrid
Spain
Spain's capital — museums, parks and endless nights.
🇮🇹
Rome
Italy
Ancient ruins, dolce vita and Italy's biggest capital.
Estimated monthly student budget
🇪🇸 Madrid
€1,050–1,400 / month
Estimated monthly student budget
🇮🇹 Rome
€1,050–1,350 / month
Best for
🇪🇸 Madrid
- Students looking for a large international city
- Those who want to travel frequently around Europe
- People interested in academic and professional opportunities
Best for
🇮🇹 Rome
- Students who want a major European capital
- Those passionate about history and classical culture
- People looking for top-tier universities
Category profile
How each city tends to feel across the things students care about — different, not better or worse.
Expensive
Cost of Living
Expensive
Very High
Nightlife
High
Very Good
Weather
Very Good
Excellent
Travel Opportunities
Excellent
Very Active
Student Life
Very Active
Tight
Housing
Tight
Top-Tier
University Reputation
Top-Tier
Student insights
🇪🇸 Madrid
- Exceptional nightlife
- Outstanding national and international connections
- Highly prestigious universities
Student insights
🇮🇹 Rome
- Extraordinary historical and cultural heritage
- Prestigious universities with many international programmes
- Excellent rail and flight connections
Student voice — 🇪🇸 Madrid
“Madrid is a city that never sleeps.”
Student voice — 🇮🇹 Rome
“Rome is overwhelming at first, then you fall in love.”
🇪🇸 Madrid
Pros
- Exceptional nightlife
- Outstanding national and international connections
- Highly prestigious universities
- Wide cultural and leisure offer
- Great networking and career opportunities
Cons
- Very expensive rent
- High cost of living by Spanish standards
- Large, sometimes overwhelming city
- Longer daily commutes than in mid-sized cities
- Less sense of student community than in more compact destinations
🇮🇹 Rome
Pros
- Extraordinary historical and cultural heritage
- Prestigious universities with many international programmes
- Excellent rail and flight connections
- Vibrant food and aperitivo culture
- Pleasant Mediterranean climate most of the year
Cons
- Very competitive and expensive housing
- Public transport can be slow and crowded
- Notoriously slow administrative processes
- Massive tourist crowds in central areas
- Erasmus community feels fragmented across the city
Have you studied in one of these cities?
Share your experience and help future students make better Erasmus decisions.