VacationSelector
The white medina above the harbour walls, Essaouira
EssaouiraThe white medina above the harbour walls
A painted funicular on the hillside, Valparaiso
ValparaisoA painted funicular on the hillside

Photos: Essaouira by Manel Cusido, Pexels License; Valparaiso by Maclemo, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Essaouira or Valparaiso?

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
  • getting around
  • shopping

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

Choose Valparaiso for

  • day trips
  • nightlife
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Valparaiso’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, Valparaiso 36: Essaouira leads by 11 points.
Food & drink. Essaouira 44, Valparaiso 50: Valparaiso leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Essaouira 48, Valparaiso 62: Valparaiso leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Essaouira 14, Valparaiso 56: Valparaiso leads by 42 points.
Nature & outdoors. Essaouira 57, Valparaiso 60: Valparaiso leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Essaouira 17, Valparaiso 63: Valparaiso leads by 46 points.
Good for families. Essaouira 42, Valparaiso 33: Essaouira leads by 9 points.
Getting around. Essaouira 58, Valparaiso 44: Essaouira leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Essaouira 44, Valparaiso 30: Essaouira leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Essaouira 74, Valparaiso 60: Essaouira leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Essaouira 28, Valparaiso 38: Valparaiso leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Essaouira 66, Valparaiso 18: Essaouira leads by 48 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Essaouira
45match

Wins on wellness and getting around with your weighting.

Valparaiso
46match

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

Valparaiso in July

15 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
71 mmrain in the month
13 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
EssaouiraValparaiso

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.

Valparaiso 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). Valparaiso: 2010-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Viña Del Mar / Montemar (17 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureEssaouiraValparaiso
Official languageArabic, Standard Moroccan TamazightSpanish
CurrencyMoroccan Dirham (MAD)Chilean Peso (CLP)
SocketsCE50 HzCL220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1UTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15Police 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132
Elevation11 m21 m
Main airportEssaouira-Mogador Airport (ESU)15 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)87 km from centre67 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureEssaouiraValparaiso
City population82,962296,655
People per km²16,5926,180
Museums within 10 km217
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Valparaiso 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.