VacationSelector
The Sagrada Família, Barcelona
BarcelonaThe Sagrada Família
The Cap Spartel lighthouse among palms, Tangier
TangierThe Cap Spartel lighthouse among palms

Photos: Barcelona by Canaan, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Tangier by Ideophagous, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Barcelona or Tangier?

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 Barcelona for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • families

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

Choose Tangier for

  • prices
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Tangier’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. Barcelona 75, Tangier 50: Barcelona leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Barcelona 82, Tangier 58: Barcelona leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Barcelona 86, Tangier 57: Barcelona leads by 29 points.
Nightlife. Barcelona 82, Tangier 30: Barcelona leads by 52 points.
Nature & outdoors. Barcelona 72, Tangier 55: Barcelona leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Barcelona 80, Tangier 72: Barcelona leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Barcelona 76, Tangier 35: Barcelona leads by 41 points.
Getting around. Barcelona 80, Tangier 40: Barcelona leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. Barcelona 75, Tangier 42: Barcelona leads by 33 points.
Affordability. Barcelona 44, Tangier 76: Tangier leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Barcelona 70, Tangier 28: Barcelona leads by 42 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Barcelona 38, Tangier 50: Tangier leads by 12 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Barcelona
Best match
72match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Tangier
49match

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.

Barcelona in July

28 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Tangier in July

29 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
22 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
BarcelonaTangier

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Barcelona: 1991-2020 normals, Barcelona / Aeropuerto (14.4 km from centre). Tangier: 1991-2020 normals, Tanger Aerodrome (9.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBarcelonaTangier
Official languageSpanishArabic, Standard Moroccan Tamazight
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Moroccan Dirham (MAD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1
Emergency number112Police 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15
Elevation9 m56 m
Main airportJosep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN)13 km from centre235 non-stop destinationsTangier Ibn Battuta Airport (TNG)11 km from centre50 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureBarcelonaTangier
City population1,731,6491,275,428
People per km²17,0946,393
Museums within 10 km956
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Barcelona or Tangier 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.