VacationSelector
The Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh
EdinburghThe Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens
The Koutoubia Mosque from its gardens, Marrakech
MarrakechThe Koutoubia Mosque from its gardens

Photos: Edinburgh by Carlos Delgado, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Marrakech by Jorge Franganillo, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Edinburgh or Marrakech?

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

  • day trips
  • live music and the arts
  • families

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

Choose Marrakech for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Marrakech’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, Marrakech 7: Edinburgh leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Edinburgh 53, Marrakech 64: Marrakech leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Edinburgh 75, Marrakech 76: Marrakech leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Edinburgh 50, Marrakech 33: Edinburgh leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Edinburgh 75, Marrakech 70: Edinburgh leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Edinburgh 75, Marrakech 28: Edinburgh leads by 47 points.
Good for families. Edinburgh 62, Marrakech 25: Edinburgh leads by 37 points.
Getting around. Edinburgh 74, Marrakech 38: Edinburgh leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Edinburgh 50, Marrakech 72: Marrakech leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Edinburgh 30, Marrakech 72: Marrakech leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Edinburgh 72, Marrakech 25: Edinburgh leads by 47 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Edinburgh 34, Marrakech 75: Marrakech leads by 41 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Edinburgh
Best match
56match

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

Marrakech
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

Marrakech in July

38 °Cdaytime high
21 °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
EdinburghMarrakech

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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Edinburgh: 1991-2020 normals, Edinburgh Airport (10 km from centre). Marrakech: 1991-2020 normals, Marrakech (5.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureEdinburghMarrakech
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 m465 m
Main airportEdinburgh Airport (EDI)11 km from centre163 non-stop destinationsMarrakesh Menara Airport (RAK)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureEdinburghMarrakech
City population488,0501,002,697
People per km²1,8844,360
Museums within 10 km3214
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 Marrakech 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.