VacationSelector
The white medina above the harbour walls, Essaouira
EssaouiraThe white medina above the harbour walls
Château Frontenac from Dufferin Terrace, Quebec City
Quebec CityChâteau Frontenac from Dufferin Terrace

Photos: Essaouira by Manel Cusido, Pexels License; Quebec City by Jeangagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Essaouira or Quebec 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
  • prices
  • wellness

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

Choose Quebec City for

  • day trips
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Quebec 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, Quebec City 18: Essaouira leads by 29 points.
Food & drink. Essaouira 44, Quebec City 57: Quebec City leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Essaouira 48, Quebec City 70: Quebec City leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Essaouira 14, Quebec City 42: Quebec City leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Essaouira 57, Quebec City 79: Quebec City leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Essaouira 17, Quebec City 58: Quebec City leads by 41 points.
Good for families. Essaouira 42, Quebec City 64: Quebec City leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Essaouira 58, Quebec City 50: Essaouira leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Essaouira 44, Quebec City 45: Quebec City leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Essaouira 74, Quebec City 45: Essaouira leads by 29 points.
Live music & performing arts. Essaouira 28, Quebec City 52: Quebec City leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Essaouira 66, Quebec City 55: Essaouira leads by 11 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Essaouira
45match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Quebec City
Best match
53match

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
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Quebec City in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
119 mmrain in the month
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
EssaouiraQuebec 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). Quebec City: 1991-2020 normals, Beauport (3.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureEssaouiraQuebec City
Official languageArabic, Standard Moroccan TamazightFrench, English
CurrencyMoroccan Dirham (MAD)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsCE50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15911
Elevation11 m98 m
Main airportEssaouira-Mogador Airport (ESU)15 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsQuebec Jean Lesage International Airport (YQB)13 km from centre34 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureEssaouiraQuebec City
City population82,962574,482
People per km²16,5921,184
Museums within 10 km216
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Quebec 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.