VacationSelector
The white medina above the harbour walls, Essaouira
EssaouiraThe white medina above the harbour walls
Vine rows before the snow-capped Andes in the Uco Valley, Mendoza
MendozaVine rows before the snow-capped Andes in the Uco Valley

Photos: Essaouira by Manel Cusido, Pexels License; Mendoza by David, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Essaouira or Mendoza?

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

  • beaches
  • culture and sights
  • prices

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

Choose Mendoza for

  • day trips
  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Mendoza’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, Mendoza 6: Essaouira leads by 41 points.
Food & drink. Essaouira 44, Mendoza 68: Mendoza leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Essaouira 48, Mendoza 30: Essaouira leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Essaouira 14, Mendoza 40: Mendoza leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Essaouira 57, Mendoza 83: Mendoza leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Essaouira 17, Mendoza 52: Mendoza leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Essaouira and Mendoza are level on 42.
Getting around. Essaouira 58, Mendoza 48: Essaouira leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Essaouira 44, Mendoza 33: Essaouira leads by 11 points.
Affordability. Essaouira 74, Mendoza 56: Essaouira leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Essaouira 28, Mendoza 33: Mendoza leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Essaouira 66, Mendoza 55: Essaouira leads by 11 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Essaouira and Mendoza.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Essaouira
45match

Wins on beaches and culture and sights with your weighting.

Mendoza
46match

Wins on day trips and nightlife 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
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Mendoza in July

15 °Cdaytime high
2 °Cnight-time low
5 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

01020304050JFMAMJJASOND
EssaouiraMendoza

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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Essaouira: 1991-2020 normals, Essaouira (1.4 km from centre). Mendoza: 1991-2020 normals, Mendoza Aerodrome (8.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureEssaouiraMendoza
Official languageArabic, Standard Moroccan TamazightSpanish
CurrencyMoroccan Dirham (MAD)Argentine Peso (ARS)
SocketsCE50 HzCI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1UTC-3
Emergency numberPolice 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15117 or 911
Elevation11 m769 m
Main airportEssaouira-Mogador Airport (ESU)15 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsGovernor Francisco Gabrielli International Airport (MDZ)8 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureEssaouiraMendoza
City population82,962127,160
People per km²16,5922,355
Museums within 10 km21
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Mendoza 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. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.