VacationSelector
The Auckland skyline and Sky Tower from the Waitematā Harbour, Auckland
AucklandThe Auckland skyline and Sky Tower from the Waitematā Harbour
The white medina above the harbour walls, Essaouira
EssaouiraThe white medina above the harbour walls

Photos: Auckland by Pseudopanax at English Wikipedia, Public domain; Essaouira by Manel Cusido, Pexels License.

Auckland 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 Auckland for

  • day trips
  • nightlife
  • families

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

Choose Essaouira for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • getting around

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. Auckland 68, Essaouira 47: Auckland leads by 21 points.
Food & drink. Auckland 62, Essaouira 44: Auckland leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Auckland 44, Essaouira 48: Essaouira leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Auckland 42, Essaouira 14: Auckland leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Auckland 83, Essaouira 57: Auckland leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Auckland 55, Essaouira 17: Auckland leads by 38 points.
Good for families. Auckland 70, Essaouira 42: Auckland leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Auckland 42, Essaouira 58: Essaouira leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Auckland 45, Essaouira 44: Auckland leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Auckland 32, Essaouira 74: Essaouira leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Auckland 45, Essaouira 28: Auckland leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Auckland 45, Essaouira 66: Essaouira leads by 21 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Auckland and Essaouira.

Your match

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

Auckland
Best match
53match

Wins on day trips and nightlife 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.

Auckland in July

14 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
135 mmrain in the month
14 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Essaouira in July

22 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AucklandEssaouira

Where the figures come from

Auckland's station stands 189 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

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. Auckland: 1961-1990 normals, Auckland Aerodrome Aws (17 km from centre). Essaouira: 1991-2020 normals, Essaouira (1.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAucklandEssaouira
Official languageEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, MāoriArabic, Standard Moroccan Tamazight
CurrencyNew Zealand Dollar (NZD)Moroccan Dirham (MAD)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+12, UTC+13 in summerUTC+1
Emergency number111Police 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15
Elevation196 m11 m
Main airportAuckland International Airport (AKL)18 km from centre63 non-stop destinationsEssaouira-Mogador Airport (ESU)15 km from centre13 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAucklandEssaouira
City population1,470,10082,962
People per km²2,63016,592
Museums within 10 km152
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 monthNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Auckland 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). 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.