VacationSelector
The Palais des Papes and the cathedral, Avignon
AvignonThe Palais des Papes and the cathedral
The white medina above the harbour walls, Essaouira
EssaouiraThe white medina above the harbour walls

Photos: Avignon by BlueBreezeWiki, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Essaouira by Manel Cusido, Pexels License.

Avignon 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 Avignon for

  • day trips
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Essaouira for

  • wellness
  • prices
  • beaches

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. Avignon 22, Essaouira 47: Essaouira leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Avignon 57, Essaouira 44: Avignon leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Avignon 69, Essaouira 48: Avignon leads by 21 points.
Nightlife. Avignon 30, Essaouira 14: Avignon leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Avignon 70, Essaouira 57: Avignon leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Avignon 92, Essaouira 17: Avignon leads by 75 points.
Good for families. Avignon 45, Essaouira 42: Avignon leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Avignon 62, Essaouira 58: Avignon leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Avignon 38, Essaouira 44: Essaouira leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Avignon 44, Essaouira 74: Essaouira leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Avignon 68, Essaouira 28: Avignon leads by 40 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Avignon 35, Essaouira 66: Essaouira leads by 31 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Avignon
Best match
53match

Wins on day trips and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Essaouira
45match

Wins on wellness and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Avignon in July

32 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
24 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
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

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AvignonEssaouira

Where the figures come from

Avignon 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.

Avignon's sunshine is measured 65 km from the centre, at Marseille / Marignane.

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. Avignon: 2005-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Avignon / Morières-lès-Avignon (8.6 km from centre). Essaouira: 1991-2020 normals, Essaouira (1.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAvignonEssaouira
Official languageFrenchArabic, Standard Moroccan Tamazight
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Moroccan Dirham (MAD)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1
Emergency number112Police 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15
Elevation10 m11 m
Main airportMarseille Provence Airport (MRS)65 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsEssaouira-Mogador Airport (ESU)15 km from centre13 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAvignonEssaouira
City population92,18882,962
People per km²1,42016,592
Museums within 10 km112
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km61
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 Avignon 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). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.