VacationSelector
Amalfi and its harbour below the cliff, Amalfi
AmalfiAmalfi and its harbour below the cliff
The Plaza de los Naranjos and its fountain in the old town, Marbella
MarbellaThe Plaza de los Naranjos and its fountain in the old town

Photos: Amalfi by Oleksandra Zelena, Pexels License; Marbella by Décio Franchini, Pexels License.

Amalfi or Marbella?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips
  • getting around

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

Choose Marbella for

  • nightlife
  • families
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Marbella’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, Marbella 76: Marbella leads by 12 points.
Food & drink. Amalfi 48, Marbella 60: Marbella leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Amalfi 36, Marbella 32: Amalfi leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Amalfi 12, Marbella 64: Marbella leads by 52 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amalfi 82, Marbella 70: Amalfi leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Amalfi 88, Marbella 77: Amalfi leads by 11 points.
Good for families. Amalfi 28, Marbella 70: Marbella leads by 42 points.
Getting around. Amalfi 48, Marbella 38: Amalfi leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Amalfi 34, Marbella 58: Marbella leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Amalfi 18, Marbella 30: Marbella leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amalfi 22, Marbella 30: Marbella leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amalfi 32, Marbella 52: Marbella leads by 20 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Amalfi
43match

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

Marbella
Best match
55match

Wins on nightlife and families 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

Marbella in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AmalfiMarbella

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.

Marbella's temperatures are measured 40 km from the centre, at Malaga / Aeropuerto.

Marbella 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). Marbella: 1991-2020 normals, Malaga / Aeropuerto (39.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmalfiMarbella
Official languageItalianSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation6 m22 m
Main airportNaples International Airport (NAP)38 km from centre131 non-stop destinationsMálaga-Costa del Sol Airport (AGP)39 km from centre166 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmalfiMarbella
City population4,729159,786
People per km²8301,398
Museums within 10 km86
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
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 Amalfi or Marbella 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.