VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
The Koutoubia Mosque from its gardens, Marrakech
MarrakechThe Koutoubia Mosque from its gardens

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Marrakech by Jorge Franganillo, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Alicante or Marrakech?

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 Alicante for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • families

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

Choose Marrakech for

  • wellness
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Marrakech’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. Alicante 82, Marrakech 7: Alicante leads by 75 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Marrakech 64: Alicante leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Marrakech 76: Marrakech leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, Marrakech 33: Alicante leads by 27 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Marrakech 70: Marrakech leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Marrakech 28: Alicante leads by 44 points.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Marrakech 25: Alicante leads by 43 points.
Getting around. Alicante 66, Marrakech 38: Alicante leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Marrakech 72: Marrakech leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Marrakech 72: Marrakech leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Marrakech 25: Alicante leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante 40, Marrakech 75: Marrakech leads by 35 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and Marrakech.

Your match

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

Alicante
Best match
59match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

Marrakech
49match

Wins on wellness and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Alicante in July

30 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Marrakech in July

38 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0204060JFMAMJJASOND
AlicanteMarrakech

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). Marrakech: 1991-2020 normals, Marrakech (5.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicanteMarrakech
Official languageSpanishArabic, Standard Moroccan Tamazight
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Moroccan Dirham (MAD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1
Emergency number112Police 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15
Elevation3 m465 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsMarrakesh Menara Airport (RAK)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicanteMarrakech
City population366,2211,002,697
People per km²1,8194,360
Museums within 10 km814
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Alicante or Marrakech 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.