Flying from Mexico City to Madrid?
Add a departure date and see which side gets the sun.
Flying from Mexico City to Madrid?
Add a departure date and see which side gets the sun.
Flying from Mexico City to Madrid?
Add a departure date and see which side gets the sun.
Mexico City → Madrid
A very long flight from Mexico to Spain. Madrid is 8 hours ahead. Remember to put your watch forward when you land.
This route crosses the Tropic of Cancer, the northernmost latitude where the sun passes directly overhead.
The capital on a former lake
Mexico City was built atop the drained bed of Lake Texcoco, the site of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan, and the soft former lakebed still causes parts of the city to sink unevenly each year. The Metro's Line 5 reaches a station a short walk from Terminal 1, the airport's cheapest and most direct public option, though Terminal 2 requires an extra connection. Sitting at over 2,200 meters (7,200 feet), the altitude can be noticeable to visitors, and the surrounding mountains trap smog on still days. It's one of the largest metro areas on Earth, and beyond the rail network's reach, traffic is a serious daily reality.
Surrounding hubs
| 1,771 km / 1,100 mi | |
| 1,910 km / 1,187 mi | |
| 1,056 km / 656 mi |
The heart of Spain
Madrid sits high and dry on Spain's central plateau, a wide, grid-and-boulevard capital with no coast and a continental climate of hot summers and cold winters. It is one of Europe's more transit-friendly capitals: an extensive metro plus commuter rail covers the city and reaches the airport directly, and the historic core is easy to walk. Spanish life runs late, with dinner and the evening rhythm starting well after dark by other European standards. A car is rarely useful inside the city center.
Surrounding hubs
| 547 km / 340 mi | |
| 725 km / 450 mi | |
| 432 km / 268 mi |
Find out which side of the plane to sit on.
Pick your airports, set your departure time, and you're done.
We calculate the sun's position based on your flight path and departure time, then tell you which side of the plane gets direct sun and which stays shaded. No guessing, just math.
Enter your flight
Pick your departure and arrival airports and set your departure time at the departure airport. FlightSide estimates the duration and you can adjust it if you know the exact schedule.
We track the sun along your route
Your flight path is broken into hundreds of points. At each one we check where the sun is and which side of the plane it faces.
You get a recommendation
Which side of the plane to sit on, left or right, depending on whether you'd rather avoid the sun or enjoy it. The percentages and the map are there if you want to see why.
Want to go deeper? Accuracy, edge cases, polar routes — see the FAQ →
Notes from the product.
Small updates, route observations, and clearer explanations for how the app keeps evolving.
Type less, wait less, wonder more
Airport search now understands metro codes and old city names, FlightSide loads noticeably faster, and a new Feeling lucky button chooses a flight for anyone without one in mind.
A closer look at the route, not just the seat
FlightSide now shows the two cities and key details about the flight alongside the seat recommendation: confirm you picked the right airports, read the time change off two clocks, and check the return leg.
It's all about the sun (after all)
Not all sunlight reaches the side windows. FlightSide now weighs the sun’s angle to the cabin and shows twilight along the route.