VacationSelector
The white medina above the harbour walls, Essaouira
EssaouiraThe white medina above the harbour walls
The Croatian National Theatre, Zagreb
ZagrebThe Croatian National Theatre

Photos: Essaouira by Manel Cusido, Pexels License; Zagreb by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Essaouira or Zagreb?

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
  • wellness
  • prices

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

Choose Zagreb for

  • day trips
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Zagreb’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, Zagreb 10: Essaouira leads by 37 points.
Food & drink. Essaouira 44, Zagreb 55: Zagreb leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Essaouira 48, Zagreb 56: Zagreb leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Essaouira 14, Zagreb 47: Zagreb leads by 33 points.
Nature & outdoors. Essaouira 57, Zagreb 62: Zagreb leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Essaouira 17, Zagreb 60: Zagreb leads by 43 points.
Good for families. Essaouira 42, Zagreb 52: Zagreb leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Essaouira 58, Zagreb 70: Zagreb leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Essaouira 44, Zagreb 40: Essaouira leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Essaouira 74, Zagreb 60: Essaouira leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Essaouira 28, Zagreb 52: Zagreb leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Essaouira 66, Zagreb 33: Essaouira leads by 33 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Essaouira
45match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

Zagreb
Best match
50match

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
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Zagreb in July

29 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
EssaouiraZagreb

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). Zagreb: 1991-2020 normals, Zagreb / Gric (0.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureEssaouiraZagreb
Official languageArabic, Standard Moroccan TamazightCroatian
CurrencyMoroccan Dirham (MAD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15112
Elevation11 m127 m
Main airportEssaouira-Mogador Airport (ESU)15 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsZagreb Franjo Tuđman International Airport (ZAG)11 km from centre64 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureEssaouiraZagreb
City population82,962767,131
People per km²16,592-
Museums within 10 km227
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 Zagreb 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.