VacationSelector
Amalfi and its harbour below the cliff, Amalfi
AmalfiAmalfi and its harbour below the cliff
The white medina above the harbour walls, Essaouira
EssaouiraThe white medina above the harbour walls

Photos: Amalfi by Oleksandra Zelena, Pexels License; Essaouira by Manel Cusido, Pexels License.

Amalfi 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 Amalfi for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

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

Choose Essaouira for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • families

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. Amalfi 64, Essaouira 47: Amalfi leads by 17 points.
Food & drink. Amalfi 48, Essaouira 44: Amalfi leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Amalfi 36, Essaouira 48: Essaouira leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Amalfi 12, Essaouira 14: Essaouira leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amalfi 82, Essaouira 57: Amalfi leads by 25 points.
Day trips. Amalfi 88, Essaouira 17: Amalfi leads by 71 points.
Good for families. Amalfi 28, Essaouira 42: Essaouira leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Amalfi 48, Essaouira 58: Essaouira leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Amalfi 34, Essaouira 44: Essaouira leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Amalfi 18, Essaouira 74: Essaouira leads by 56 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amalfi 22, Essaouira 28: Essaouira leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amalfi 32, Essaouira 66: Essaouira leads by 34 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amalfi and Essaouira.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Amalfi
43match

Wins on day trips and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Essaouira
45match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Amalfi in July

31 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
28 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AmalfiEssaouira

Where the figures come from

Amalfi's temperatures are measured 65 km from the centre, at Grazzanise.

Amalfi 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. Amalfi: 1991-2020 normals, Grazzanise (64.7 km from centre). Essaouira: 1991-2020 normals, Essaouira (1.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmalfiEssaouira
Official languageItalianArabic, Standard Moroccan Tamazight
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Moroccan Dirham (MAD)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1
Emergency number112Police 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15
Elevation6 m11 m
Main airportNaples International Airport (NAP)38 km from centre131 non-stop destinationsEssaouira-Mogador Airport (ESU)15 km from centre13 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmalfiEssaouira
City population4,72982,962
People per km²83016,592
Museums within 10 km82
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km51
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Amalfi 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). 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.