VacationSelector
The blue gate of Bab Bou Jeloud, Fes
FesThe blue gate of Bab Bou Jeloud
Swayambhunath with its prayer flags, Kathmandu
KathmanduSwayambhunath with its prayer flags

Photos: Fes by Ideophagous, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Kathmandu by Nabin K. Sapkota, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Fes or Kathmandu?

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 Fes for

  • wellness
  • getting around
  • shopping

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

Choose Kathmandu for

  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Kathmandu’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. Fes 5, Kathmandu 4: Fes leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Fes 62, Kathmandu 55: Fes leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Fes 80, Kathmandu 82: Kathmandu leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Fes 12, Kathmandu 36: Kathmandu leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Fes 52, Kathmandu 70: Kathmandu leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Fes 62, Kathmandu 56: Fes leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Fes 22, Kathmandu 20: Fes leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Fes 40, Kathmandu 25: Fes leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Fes 68, Kathmandu 55: Fes leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Fes 80, Kathmandu 97: Kathmandu leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Fes 32, Kathmandu 28: Fes leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Fes 70, Kathmandu 45: Fes leads by 25 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Fes
49match

Wins on wellness and getting around with your weighting.

Kathmandu
48match

Wins on nightlife 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.

Fes in July

36 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Kathmandu in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
384 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
FesKathmandu

Where the figures come from

Fes's station stands 171 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Fes 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.

Fes's sunshine is measured 52 km from the centre, at Meknes.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Fes: 1999-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Fes-Sais (12.4 km from centre). Kathmandu: 1991-2020 normals, Kathmandu Airport (4.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFesKathmandu
Official languageArabic, Standard Moroccan TamazightNepali
CurrencyMoroccan Dirham (MAD)Nepalese Rupee (NPR)
SocketsCE50 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1UTC+5:45
Emergency numberPolice 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15Police 100, ambulance 102, fire 101
Elevation408 m1,300 m
Main airportFes Saïss International Airport (FEZ)13 km from centre35 non-stop destinationsTribhuvan International Airport (KTM)4 km from centre38 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureFesKathmandu
City population1,167,842845,767
People per km²3,65017,121
Museums within 10 km29
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Fes or Kathmandu 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.