VacationSelector
The white medina above the harbour walls, Essaouira
EssaouiraThe white medina above the harbour walls
The Aare at Unterseen, Interlaken, Interlaken
InterlakenThe Aare at Unterseen, Interlaken

Photos: Essaouira by Manel Cusido, Pexels License; Interlaken by Roy Egloff, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Essaouira or Interlaken?

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 Essaouira for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • wellness

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

Choose Interlaken for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Interlaken’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. Essaouira 47, Interlaken 30: Essaouira leads by 17 points.
Food & drink. Essaouira 44, Interlaken 25: Essaouira leads by 19 points.
Culture & sights. Essaouira 48, Interlaken 8: Essaouira leads by 40 points.
Nightlife. Essaouira 14, Interlaken 15: Interlaken leads by 1 points.
Nature & outdoors. Essaouira 57, Interlaken 97: Interlaken leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Essaouira 17, Interlaken 78: Interlaken leads by 61 points.
Good for families. Essaouira 42, Interlaken 72: Interlaken leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Essaouira 58, Interlaken 80: Interlaken leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Essaouira 44, Interlaken 22: Essaouira leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Essaouira 74, Interlaken 8: Essaouira leads by 66 points.
Live music & performing arts. Essaouira 28, Interlaken 15: Essaouira leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Essaouira 66, Interlaken 40: Essaouira leads by 26 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Essaouira and Interlaken.

Your match

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

Essaouira
Best match
45match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Interlaken
41match

Wins on day trips 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.

Essaouira in July

22 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Interlaken in July

24 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
EssaouiraInterlaken

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.

Interlaken 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. Essaouira: 1991-2020 normals, Essaouira (1.4 km from centre). Interlaken: 2005-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Meiringen / Unterbach (19.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureEssaouiraInterlaken
Official languageArabic, Standard Moroccan TamazightFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyMoroccan Dirham (MAD)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsCE50 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15112
Elevation11 m571 m
Main airportEssaouira-Mogador Airport (ESU)15 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)100 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureEssaouiraInterlaken
City population82,9626,123
People per km²16,5921,424
Museums within 10 km23
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Essaouira or Interlaken 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). 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.