VacationSelector
The domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi
Abu DhabiThe domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
The white medina above the harbour walls, Essaouira
EssaouiraThe white medina above the harbour walls

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Essaouira by Manel Cusido, Pexels License.

Abu Dhabi or Essaouira?

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 Abu Dhabi for

  • families
  • beaches
  • day trips

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

Choose Essaouira for

  • prices
  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Essaouira’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. Abu Dhabi 78, Essaouira 47: Abu Dhabi leads by 31 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Essaouira 44: Abu Dhabi leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Essaouira 48: Abu Dhabi leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Essaouira 14: Abu Dhabi leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Essaouira 57: Essaouira leads by 29 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Essaouira 17: Abu Dhabi leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Essaouira 42: Abu Dhabi leads by 40 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Essaouira 58: Essaouira leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Essaouira 44: Abu Dhabi leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Essaouira 74: Essaouira leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Essaouira 28: Abu Dhabi leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Essaouira 66: Essaouira leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Abu Dhabi and Essaouira.

Your match

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

Abu Dhabi
Best match
48match

Wins on families and beaches with your weighting.

Essaouira
45match

Wins on prices and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Abu Dhabi in July

43 °Cdaytime high
30 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
33 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Essaouira in July

22 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

01020304050JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiEssaouira

Where the figures come from

Abu Dhabi's temperatures are measured 26 km from the centre, at Abu Dhabi International Airport.

Abu Dhabi has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Essaouira has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Abu Dhabi: 1991-2020 normals, Abu Dhabi International Airport (25.7 km from centre). Essaouira: 1991-2020 normals, Essaouira (1.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiEssaouira
Official languageArabicArabic, Standard Moroccan Tamazight
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Moroccan Dirham (MAD)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+1
Emergency number112Police 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15
Elevation14 m11 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsEssaouira-Mogador Airport (ESU)15 km from centre13 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiEssaouira
City population1,570,00082,962
People per km²1,61516,592
Museums within 10 km32
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C11 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Abu Dhabi or Essaouira 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). 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.