VacationSelector
The white medina above the harbour walls, Essaouira
EssaouiraThe white medina above the harbour walls
Bell Rock outside Sedona, Sedona
SedonaBell Rock outside Sedona

Photos: Essaouira by Manel Cusido, Pexels License; Sedona by dconvertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Essaouira or Sedona?

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
  • getting around
  • beaches

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

Choose Sedona for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Sedona’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, Sedona 16: Essaouira leads by 31 points.
Food & drink. Essaouira 44, Sedona 33: Essaouira leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Essaouira 48, Sedona 20: Essaouira leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Essaouira 14, Sedona 8: Essaouira leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Essaouira 57, Sedona 93: Sedona leads by 36 points.
Day trips. Essaouira 17, Sedona 55: Sedona leads by 38 points.
Good for families. Essaouira and Sedona are level on 42.
Getting around. Essaouira 58, Sedona 22: Essaouira leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Essaouira 44, Sedona 34: Essaouira leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Essaouira 74, Sedona 18: Essaouira leads by 56 points.
Live music & performing arts. Essaouira 28, Sedona 13: Essaouira leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Essaouira 66, Sedona 82: Sedona leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Essaouira and Sedona.

Your match

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

Essaouira
Best match
45match

Wins on prices and getting around with your weighting.

Sedona
36match

Wins on day trips and nature and the outdoors 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

Sedona in July

34 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
51 mmrain in the month
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0204060JFMAMJJASOND
EssaouiraSedona

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.

Sedona's station stands 153 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Sedona 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). Sedona: 2009-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Sedona / West Sedona (1.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureEssaouiraSedona
Official languageArabic, Standard Moroccan Tamazight-
CurrencyMoroccan Dirham (MAD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCE50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1UTC-7
Emergency numberPolice 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15911
Elevation11 m1,319 m
Main airportEssaouira-Mogador Airport (ESU)15 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)160 km from centre148 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureEssaouiraSedona
City population82,9629,684
People per km²16,592195
Museums within 10 km20
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Sedona 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.