VacationSelector
The white medina above the harbour walls, Essaouira
EssaouiraThe white medina above the harbour walls
The towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light, Panama City
Panama CityThe towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light

Photos: Essaouira by Manel Cusido, Pexels License; Panama City by Ayaita, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Essaouira or Panama 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

  • wellness
  • prices
  • getting around

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

Choose Panama City for

  • nightlife
  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Panama 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, Panama City 44: Essaouira leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Essaouira 44, Panama City 57: Panama City leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Essaouira 48, Panama City 62: Panama City leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Essaouira 14, Panama City 62: Panama City leads by 48 points.
Nature & outdoors. Essaouira 57, Panama City 74: Panama City leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Essaouira 17, Panama City 50: Panama City leads by 33 points.
Good for families. Essaouira 42, Panama City 45: Panama City leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Essaouira 58, Panama City 40: Essaouira leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Essaouira 44, Panama City 52: Panama City leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Essaouira 74, Panama City 55: Essaouira leads by 19 points.
Live music & performing arts. Essaouira 28, Panama City 34: Panama City leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Essaouira 66, Panama City 22: Essaouira leads by 44 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Essaouira and Panama City.

Your match

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

Essaouira
45match

Wins on wellness and prices with your weighting.

Panama City
Best match
50match

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
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Panama City in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
161 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
EssaouiraPanama 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.

Panama City 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). Panama City: 1991-2020 normals, Tocumen (20.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureEssaouiraPanama City
Official languageArabic, Standard Moroccan TamazightSpanish
CurrencyMoroccan Dirham (MAD)Balboa (PAB)
SocketsCE50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1UTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15911
Elevation11 m20 m
Main airportEssaouira-Mogador Airport (ESU)15 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsTocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureEssaouiraPanama City
City population82,9621,540,000
People per km²16,5925,600
Museums within 10 km210
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
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 Panama 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. 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.