VacationSelector
The pyramids of Giza, Cairo
CairoThe pyramids of Giza
The blue gate of Bab Bou Jeloud, Fes
FesThe blue gate of Bab Bou Jeloud

Photos: Cairo by Ricardo Liberato, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Fes by Ideophagous, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cairo or Fes?

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 Cairo for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Fes for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Fes’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. Cairo 10, Fes 5: Cairo leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Cairo 60, Fes 62: Fes leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Cairo 96, Fes 80: Cairo leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Cairo 48, Fes 12: Cairo leads by 36 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cairo 30, Fes 52: Fes leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Cairo 66, Fes 62: Cairo leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Cairo 32, Fes 22: Cairo leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Cairo 35, Fes 40: Fes leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Cairo 58, Fes 68: Fes leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Cairo 95, Fes 80: Cairo leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cairo 50, Fes 32: Cairo leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cairo 15, Fes 70: Fes leads by 55 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cairo and Fes.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Cairo
50match

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

Fes
49match

Wins on wellness and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Cairo in July

36 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Fes in July

36 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
CairoFes

Where the figures come from

Fes's station stands 171 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Fes 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.

Fes's sunshine is measured 52 km from the centre, at Meknes.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cairo: 1991-2020 normals, Helwan (21.9 km from centre). Fes: 1999-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Fes-Sais (12.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCairoFes
Official languageArabicArabic, Standard Moroccan Tamazight
CurrencyEgyptian Pound (EGP)Moroccan Dirham (MAD)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+1
Emergency numberPolice 122, ambulance 123, fire 180Police 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15
Elevation23 m408 m
Main airportCairo International Airport (CAI)17 km from centre127 non-stop destinationsFes Saïss International Airport (FEZ)13 km from centre35 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureCairoFes
City population9,801,5361,167,842
People per km²18,5643,650
Museums within 10 km482
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cairo or Fes 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). 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.