VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
The white medina above the harbour walls, Essaouira
EssaouiraThe white medina above the harbour walls

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Essaouira by Manel Cusido, Pexels License.

Chicago 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 Chicago for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • food and drink

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

Choose Essaouira for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Chicago 50, Essaouira 47: Chicago leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Essaouira 44: Chicago leads by 36 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Essaouira 48: Chicago leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Essaouira 14: Chicago leads by 63 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Essaouira 57: Essaouira leads by 9 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Essaouira 17: Chicago leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Essaouira 42: Chicago leads by 36 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Essaouira 58: Chicago leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Essaouira 44: Chicago leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Essaouira 74: Essaouira leads by 41 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Essaouira 28: Chicago leads by 54 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Essaouira 66: Essaouira leads by 33 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Chicago
Best match
62match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts 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.

Chicago in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
102 mmrain in the month
21 °Csea
15 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°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoEssaouira

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. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Essaouira: 1991-2020 normals, Essaouira (1.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoEssaouira
Official language-Arabic, Standard Moroccan Tamazight
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Moroccan Dirham (MAD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+1
Emergency number911Police 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15
Elevation179 m11 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsEssaouira-Mogador Airport (ESU)15 km from centre13 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoEssaouira
City population2,746,38882,962
People per km²4,52916,592
Museums within 10 km442
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Chicago 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.