VacationSelector
The white medina above the harbour walls, Essaouira
EssaouiraThe white medina above the harbour walls
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70

Photos: Essaouira by Manel Cusido, Pexels License; Seattle by Caio, Pexels License.

Essaouira or Seattle?

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

  • prices
  • wellness
  • beaches

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

Choose Seattle for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Seattle’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, Seattle 30: Essaouira leads by 17 points.
Food & drink. Essaouira 44, Seattle 66: Seattle leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Essaouira 48, Seattle 50: Seattle leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Essaouira 14, Seattle 55: Seattle leads by 41 points.
Nature & outdoors. Essaouira 57, Seattle 87: Seattle leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Essaouira 17, Seattle 55: Seattle leads by 38 points.
Good for families. Essaouira 42, Seattle 64: Seattle leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Essaouira 58, Seattle 60: Seattle leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Essaouira 44, Seattle 52: Seattle leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Essaouira 74, Seattle 22: Essaouira leads by 52 points.
Live music & performing arts. Essaouira 28, Seattle 70: Seattle leads by 42 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Essaouira 66, Seattle 40: Essaouira leads by 26 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Essaouira
45match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

Seattle
Best match
54match

Wins on live music and the arts 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

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
EssaouiraSeattle

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). Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureEssaouiraSeattle
Official languageArabic, Standard Moroccan Tamazight-
CurrencyMoroccan Dirham (MAD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCE50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15911
Elevation11 m40 m
Main airportEssaouira-Mogador Airport (ESU)15 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureEssaouiraSeattle
City population82,962737,015
People per km²16,5921,996
Museums within 10 km227
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Essaouira or Seattle 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.