VacationSelector
The old harbour in Kaleiçi, Antalya
AntalyaThe old harbour in Kaleiçi
The white medina above the harbour walls, Essaouira
EssaouiraThe white medina above the harbour walls

Photos: Antalya by Furkan Tumer, Pexels License; Essaouira by Manel Cusido, Pexels License.

Antalya 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 Antalya for

  • day trips
  • beaches
  • nightlife

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

Choose Essaouira for

  • prices
  • getting around
  • wellness

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. Antalya 82, Essaouira 47: Antalya leads by 35 points.
Food & drink. Antalya 57, Essaouira 44: Antalya leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Antalya 55, Essaouira 48: Antalya leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Antalya 48, Essaouira 14: Antalya leads by 34 points.
Nature & outdoors. Antalya 83, Essaouira 57: Antalya leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Antalya 78, Essaouira 17: Antalya leads by 61 points.
Good for families. Antalya 74, Essaouira 42: Antalya leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Antalya 50, Essaouira 58: Essaouira leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Antalya and Essaouira are level on 44.
Affordability. Antalya 62, Essaouira 74: Essaouira leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Antalya 40, Essaouira 28: Antalya leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Antalya 62, Essaouira 66: Essaouira leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Antalya and Essaouira.

Your match

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

Antalya
Best match
61match

Wins on day trips and beaches with your weighting.

Essaouira
45match

Wins on prices and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Antalya in July

35 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
2 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
28 °Csea
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

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
AntalyaEssaouira

Where the figures come from

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. Antalya: 1991-2020 normals, Antalya (23.4 km from centre). Essaouira: 1991-2020 normals, Essaouira (1.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAntalyaEssaouira
Official languageTurkishArabic, Standard Moroccan Tamazight
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)Moroccan Dirham (MAD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+1
Emergency number112Police 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15
Elevation30 m11 m
Main airportAntalya International Airport (AYT)9 km from centre172 non-stop destinationsEssaouira-Mogador Airport (ESU)15 km from centre13 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAntalyaEssaouira
City population2,426,35682,962
People per km²1,71216,592
Museums within 10 km52
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C7 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Antalya 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). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.

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.