VacationSelector
The Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh
EdinburghThe Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens
The blue gate of Bab Bou Jeloud, Fes
FesThe blue gate of Bab Bou Jeloud

Photos: Edinburgh by Carlos Delgado, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Fes by Ideophagous, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Edinburgh 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 Edinburgh for

  • families
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

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

Choose Fes for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • 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. Edinburgh 22, Fes 5: Edinburgh leads by 17 points.
Food & drink. Edinburgh 53, Fes 62: Fes leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Edinburgh 75, Fes 80: Fes leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Edinburgh 50, Fes 12: Edinburgh leads by 38 points.
Nature & outdoors. Edinburgh 75, Fes 52: Edinburgh leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Edinburgh 75, Fes 62: Edinburgh leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Edinburgh 62, Fes 22: Edinburgh leads by 40 points.
Getting around. Edinburgh 74, Fes 40: Edinburgh leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Edinburgh 50, Fes 68: Fes leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Edinburgh 30, Fes 80: Fes leads by 50 points.
Live music & performing arts. Edinburgh 72, Fes 32: Edinburgh leads by 40 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Edinburgh 34, Fes 70: Fes leads by 36 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Edinburgh and Fes.

Your match

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

Edinburgh
Best match
56match

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

Fes
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.

Edinburgh in July

19 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
66 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
14 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Fes in July

36 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
EdinburghFes

Where the figures come from

Edinburgh 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.

Edinburgh's sunshine is measured 52 km from the centre, at Leuchars.

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. Edinburgh: 1991-2020 normals, Edinburgh Airport (10 km from centre). Fes: 1999-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Fes-Sais (12.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureEdinburghFes
Official languageEnglishArabic, Standard Moroccan Tamazight
CurrencyPound Sterling (GBP)Moroccan Dirham (MAD)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+1
Emergency number112 or 999Police 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15
Elevation47 m408 m
Main airportEdinburgh Airport (EDI)11 km from centre163 non-stop destinationsFes Saïss International Airport (FEZ)13 km from centre35 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureEdinburghFes
City population488,0501,167,842
People per km²1,8843,650
Museums within 10 km322
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

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