🇪🇸
Madrid
Spain
Spain's capital — museums, parks and endless nights.
🇦🇹
Vienna
Austria
Imperial elegance, coffee houses and unbeatable quality of life.
Estimated monthly student budget
🇪🇸 Madrid
€1,050–1,400 / month
Estimated monthly student budget
🇦🇹 Vienna
€1,000–1,300 / 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
🇦🇹 Vienna
- Students who value culture and classical music
- Those who want a high quality of life
- People interested in prestigious 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
Good
Excellent
Travel Opportunities
Excellent
Very Active
Student Life
Very Active
Tight
Housing
Comfortable
Top-Tier
University Reputation
Top-Tier
Student insights
🇪🇸 Madrid
- Exceptional nightlife
- Outstanding national and international connections
- Highly prestigious universities
Student insights
🇦🇹 Vienna
- Consistently ranked among the most liveable cities in the world
- Excellent public transport
- Strategic Central European location
Student voice — 🇪🇸 Madrid
“Madrid is a city that never sleeps.”
Student voice — 🇦🇹 Vienna
“Quality of life in Vienna is on another level.”
🇪🇸 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
🇦🇹 Vienna
Pros
- Consistently ranked among the most liveable cities in the world
- Excellent public transport
- Strategic Central European location
- Rich cultural and academic environment
- Safe and very well organised
Cons
- Higher cost of living than Eastern European capitals
- Locals can feel reserved
- Long, grey winters
- Less spontaneous nightlife than Berlin or Budapest
- Housing market competitive in popular neighbourhoods
Have you studied in one of these cities?
Share your experience and help future students make better Erasmus decisions.