VacationSelector
The white medina above the harbour walls, Essaouira
EssaouiraThe white medina above the harbour walls
The Santa Cruz Cathedral Basilica in Fort Kochi, Kochi
KochiThe Santa Cruz Cathedral Basilica in Fort Kochi

Photos: Essaouira by Manel Cusido, Pexels License; Kochi by Vis M, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Essaouira or Kochi?

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

  • getting around
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Kochi for

  • day trips
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Kochi’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, Kochi 38: Essaouira leads by 9 points.
Food & drink. Essaouira 44, Kochi 66: Kochi leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Essaouira 48, Kochi 62: Kochi leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Essaouira 14, Kochi 18: Kochi leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Essaouira 57, Kochi 55: Essaouira leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Essaouira 17, Kochi 52: Kochi leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Essaouira 42, Kochi 40: Essaouira leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Essaouira 58, Kochi 44: Essaouira leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Essaouira 44, Kochi 45: Kochi leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Essaouira 74, Kochi 88: Kochi leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Essaouira 28, Kochi 40: Kochi leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Essaouira 66, Kochi 70: Kochi leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Essaouira and Kochi.

Your match

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

Essaouira
45match

Wins on getting around and beaches with your weighting.

Kochi
Best match
52match

Wins on day trips and food and drink 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

Kochi in July

27 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
439 mmrain in the month
27 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
EssaouiraKochi

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.

Kochi has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Essaouira: 1991-2020 normals, Essaouira (1.4 km from centre). Kochi: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureEssaouiraKochi
Official languageArabic, Standard Moroccan TamazightHindi, English
CurrencyMoroccan Dirham (MAD)Indian Rupee (INR)
SocketsCE50 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1UTC+5:30
Emergency numberPolice 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15108 or 112
Elevation11 m0 m
Main airportEssaouira-Mogador Airport (ESU)15 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsCochin International Airport (COK)24 km from centre36 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureEssaouiraKochi
City population82,962677,381
People per km²16,5927,138
Museums within 10 km24
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Essaouira or Kochi 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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.