VacationSelector
The Umayyad Palace on the Amman Citadel, Amman
AmmanThe Umayyad Palace on the Amman Citadel
The white medina above the harbour walls, Essaouira
EssaouiraThe white medina above the harbour walls

Photos: Amman by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Essaouira by Manel Cusido, Pexels License.

Amman 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 Amman for

  • day trips
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

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

Choose Essaouira for

  • getting around
  • beaches
  • prices

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. Amman 22, Essaouira 47: Essaouira leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Amman 62, Essaouira 44: Amman leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Amman 54, Essaouira 48: Amman leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Amman 32, Essaouira 14: Amman leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amman 45, Essaouira 57: Essaouira leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Amman 80, Essaouira 17: Amman leads by 63 points.
Good for families. Amman 38, Essaouira 42: Essaouira leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Amman 30, Essaouira 58: Essaouira leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Amman 42, Essaouira 44: Essaouira leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Amman 58, Essaouira 74: Essaouira leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amman 27, Essaouira 28: Essaouira leads by 1 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amman 55, Essaouira 66: Essaouira leads by 11 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Amman
45match

Wins on day trips and food and drink with your weighting.

Essaouira
45match

Wins on getting around and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Amman in July

33 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
AmmanEssaouira

Where the figures come from

Amman 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.

Amman's sunshine is measured 55 km from the centre, at Mafraq.

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. Amman: 1994-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Amman Airport (6 km from centre). Essaouira: 1991-2020 normals, Essaouira (1.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmmanEssaouira
Official languageArabicArabic, Standard Moroccan Tamazight
CurrencyJordanian Dinar (JOD)Moroccan Dirham (MAD)
SocketsBCFGJ230 V, 50 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+1
Emergency number911Police 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15
Elevation776 m11 m
Main airportQueen Alia International Airport (AMM)26 km from centre98 non-stop destinationsEssaouira-Mogador Airport (ESU)15 km from centre13 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmmanEssaouira
City population4,007,52682,962
People per km²2,38516,592
Museums within 10 km82
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Amman 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. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.