VacationSelector
The white medina above the harbour walls, Essaouira
EssaouiraThe white medina above the harbour walls
The statue of Columbus in Parque Colon before the cathedral, Santo Domingo
Santo DomingoThe statue of Columbus in Parque Colon before the cathedral

Photos: Essaouira by Manel Cusido, Pexels License; Santo Domingo by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Essaouira or Santo Domingo?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around

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

Choose Santo Domingo for

  • nightlife
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Santo Domingo’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, Santo Domingo 58: Santo Domingo leads by 11 points.
Food & drink. Essaouira 44, Santo Domingo 58: Santo Domingo leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Essaouira 48, Santo Domingo 64: Santo Domingo leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Essaouira 14, Santo Domingo 66: Santo Domingo leads by 52 points.
Nature & outdoors. Essaouira 57, Santo Domingo 36: Essaouira leads by 21 points.
Day trips. Essaouira 17, Santo Domingo 44: Santo Domingo leads by 27 points.
Good for families. Essaouira 42, Santo Domingo 40: Essaouira leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Essaouira 58, Santo Domingo 40: Essaouira leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Essaouira and Santo Domingo are level on 44.
Affordability. Essaouira 74, Santo Domingo 66: Essaouira leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Essaouira 28, Santo Domingo 46: Santo Domingo leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Essaouira 66, Santo Domingo 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 Santo Domingo.

Your match

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

Essaouira
45match

Wins on wellness and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Santo Domingo
Best match
49match

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

Santo Domingo in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
183 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
EssaouiraSanto Domingo

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.

Santo Domingo 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). Santo Domingo: 1991-2020 normals, Santo Domingo (6.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureEssaouiraSanto Domingo
Official languageArabic, Standard Moroccan TamazightSpanish
CurrencyMoroccan Dirham (MAD)Dominican Peso (DOP)
SocketsCE50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1UTC-4
Emergency numberPolice 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15911
Elevation11 m14 m
Main airportEssaouira-Mogador Airport (ESU)15 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsLas Américas International Airport (SDQ)28 km from centre40 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureEssaouiraSanto Domingo
City population82,9622,201,941
People per km²16,5921,691
Museums within 10 km210
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Santo Domingo 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.