VacationSelector
The white medina above the harbour walls, Essaouira
EssaouiraThe white medina above the harbour walls
The Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo, Mexico City
Mexico CityThe Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo

Photos: Essaouira by Manel Cusido, Pexels License; Mexico City by Oscar Dominguez, Pexels License.

Essaouira or Mexico City?

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
  • wellness
  • getting around

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

Choose Mexico City for

  • nightlife
  • day trips
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Mexico City’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, Mexico City 5: Essaouira leads by 42 points.
Food & drink. Essaouira 44, Mexico City 90: Mexico City leads by 46 points.
Culture & sights. Essaouira 48, Mexico City 88: Mexico City leads by 40 points.
Nightlife. Essaouira 14, Mexico City 80: Mexico City leads by 66 points.
Nature & outdoors. Essaouira 57, Mexico City 50: Essaouira leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Essaouira 17, Mexico City 75: Mexico City leads by 58 points.
Good for families. Essaouira 42, Mexico City 58: Mexico City leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Essaouira 58, Mexico City 50: Essaouira leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Essaouira 44, Mexico City 76: Mexico City leads by 32 points.
Affordability. Essaouira 74, Mexico City 75: Mexico City leads by 1 points.
Live music & performing arts. Essaouira 28, Mexico City 72: Mexico City leads by 44 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Essaouira 66, Mexico City 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 Mexico City.

Your match

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

Essaouira
45match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

Mexico City
Best match
63match

Wins on nightlife and day trips 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

Mexico City in July

25 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
176 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
EssaouiraMexico City

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). Mexico City: 1991-2020 normals, Mexico Central, D. F. (7.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureEssaouiraMexico City
Official languageArabic, Standard Moroccan TamazightSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyMoroccan Dirham (MAD)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsCE50 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1UTC-6
Emergency numberPolice 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15911
Elevation11 m2,240 m
Main airportEssaouira-Mogador Airport (ESU)15 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsMexico City Benito Juárez International Airport (MEX)7 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureEssaouiraMexico City
City population82,9629,209,944
People per km²16,5926,202
Museums within 10 km2108
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km16
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 Mexico City 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.