VacationSelector
The blue gate of Bab Bou Jeloud, Fes
FesThe blue gate of Bab Bou Jeloud
The Dzhumaya Mosque, Plovdiv
PlovdivThe Dzhumaya Mosque

Photos: Fes by Ideophagous, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Plovdiv by Ad Meskens, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Fes or Plovdiv?

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

  • shopping
  • wellness
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Plovdiv for

  • nightlife
  • getting around
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Plovdiv’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, Plovdiv 7: Plovdiv leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Fes 62, Plovdiv 50: Fes leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Fes 80, Plovdiv 66: Fes leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Fes 12, Plovdiv 42: Plovdiv leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Fes 52, Plovdiv 68: Plovdiv leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Fes 62, Plovdiv 70: Plovdiv leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Fes 22, Plovdiv 40: Plovdiv leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Fes 40, Plovdiv 65: Plovdiv leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Fes 68, Plovdiv 33: Fes leads by 35 points.
Affordability. Fes 80, Plovdiv 78: Fes leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Fes 32, Plovdiv 42: Plovdiv leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Fes 70, Plovdiv 44: Fes leads by 26 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Fes and Plovdiv.

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 shopping and wellness with your weighting.

Plovdiv
50match

Wins on nightlife and getting around 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

Plovdiv in July

31 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
44 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
FesPlovdiv

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.

Plovdiv 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.

Plovdiv's sunshine is measured 75 km from the centre, at Kurdjali.

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). Plovdiv: 1997-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Plovdiv (1.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFesPlovdiv
Official languageArabic, Standard Moroccan TamazightBulgarian
CurrencyMoroccan Dirham (MAD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15112
Elevation408 m172 m
Main airportFes Saïss International Airport (FEZ)13 km from centre35 non-stop destinationsPlovdiv International Airport (PDV)12 km from centre8 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureFesPlovdiv
City population1,167,842333,994
People per km²3,6503,274
Museums within 10 km218
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10

Where else could you go?

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