VacationSelector
The white medina above the harbour walls, Essaouira
EssaouiraThe white medina above the harbour walls
The golden Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem
JerusalemThe golden Dome of the Rock

Photos: Essaouira by Manel Cusido, Pexels License; Jerusalem by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License.

Essaouira or Jerusalem?

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
  • wellness
  • beaches

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

Choose Jerusalem for

  • day trips
  • culture and sights
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Jerusalem’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, Jerusalem 40: Essaouira leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Essaouira 44, Jerusalem 66: Jerusalem leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Essaouira 48, Jerusalem 92: Jerusalem leads by 44 points.
Nightlife. Essaouira 14, Jerusalem 38: Jerusalem leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Essaouira 57, Jerusalem 60: Jerusalem leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Essaouira 17, Jerusalem 80: Jerusalem leads by 63 points.
Good for families. Essaouira 42, Jerusalem 52: Jerusalem leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Essaouira 58, Jerusalem 55: Essaouira leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Essaouira 44, Jerusalem 48: Jerusalem leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Essaouira 74, Jerusalem 20: Essaouira leads by 54 points.
Live music & performing arts. Essaouira 28, Jerusalem 40: Jerusalem leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Essaouira 66, Jerusalem 42: Essaouira leads by 24 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Essaouira
45match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

Jerusalem
Best match
53match

Wins on day trips and culture and sights 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

Jerusalem in July

30 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
EssaouiraJerusalem

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.

Jerusalem 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). Jerusalem: 1991-2020 normals, Jerusalem (1.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureEssaouiraJerusalem
Official languageArabic, Standard Moroccan TamazightHebrew
CurrencyMoroccan Dirham (MAD)New Israeli Sheqel (ILS)
SocketsCE50 HzCHM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15Police 100, fire 102
Elevation11 m754 m
Main airportEssaouira-Mogador Airport (ESU)15 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsBen Gurion International Airport (TLV)42 km from centre111 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureEssaouiraJerusalem
City population82,9621,050,151
People per km²16,5928,374
Museums within 10 km269
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km17
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone7 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Essaouira or Jerusalem 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. 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.