VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
The Cap Spartel lighthouse among palms, Tangier
TangierThe Cap Spartel lighthouse among palms

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Tangier by Ideophagous, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Alicante or Tangier?

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

  • families
  • beaches
  • nightlife

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

Choose Tangier for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Tangier’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, Tangier 50: Alicante leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Tangier 58: Alicante leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Tangier 57: Tangier leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, Tangier 30: Alicante leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Tangier 55: Alicante leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Alicante and Tangier are level on 72.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Tangier 35: Alicante leads by 33 points.
Getting around. Alicante 66, Tangier 40: Alicante leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Tangier 42: Alicante leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Tangier 76: Tangier leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Tangier 28: Alicante leads by 9 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante 40, Tangier 50: Tangier leads by 10 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and Tangier.

Your match

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

Alicante
Best match
59match

Wins on families and beaches with your weighting.

Tangier
49match

Wins on prices 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

Tangier in July

29 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
22 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AlicanteTangier

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). Tangier: 1991-2020 normals, Tanger Aerodrome (9.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicanteTangier
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 m56 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsTangier Ibn Battuta Airport (TNG)11 km from centre50 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicanteTangier
City population366,2211,275,428
People per km²1,8196,393
Museums within 10 km86
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Alicante or Tangier 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.