VacationSelector
Turquoise water off Giftun Island, Hurghada
HurghadaTurquoise water off Giftun Island
The Koutoubia Mosque from its gardens, Marrakech
MarrakechThe Koutoubia Mosque from its gardens

Photos: Hurghada by Andrey Korchagin, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Marrakech by Jorge Franganillo, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Hurghada or Marrakech?

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 Hurghada for

  • beaches
  • families
  • prices

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

Choose Marrakech for

  • culture and sights
  • shopping
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Marrakech’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. Hurghada 84, Marrakech 7: Hurghada leads by 77 points.
Food & drink. Hurghada 34, Marrakech 64: Marrakech leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Hurghada 14, Marrakech 76: Marrakech leads by 62 points.
Nightlife. Hurghada 40, Marrakech 33: Hurghada leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hurghada 72, Marrakech 70: Hurghada leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Hurghada 30, Marrakech 28: Hurghada leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Hurghada 62, Marrakech 25: Hurghada leads by 37 points.
Getting around. Hurghada 22, Marrakech 38: Marrakech leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Hurghada 24, Marrakech 72: Marrakech leads by 48 points.
Affordability. Hurghada 80, Marrakech 72: Hurghada leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hurghada 10, Marrakech 25: Marrakech leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hurghada 44, Marrakech 75: Marrakech leads by 31 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hurghada and Marrakech.

Your match

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

Hurghada
43match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Marrakech
Best match
49match

Wins on culture and sights and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Hurghada in July

37 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Marrakech in July

38 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

010203040JFMAMJJASOND
HurghadaMarrakech

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Hurghada: 1991-2020 normals, Hurguada (15.2 km from centre). Marrakech: 1991-2020 normals, Marrakech (5.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHurghadaMarrakech
Official languageArabicArabic, Standard Moroccan Tamazight
CurrencyEgyptian Pound (EGP)Moroccan Dirham (MAD)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+1
Emergency numberPolice 122, ambulance 123, fire 180Police 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15
Elevation11 m465 m
Main airportHurghada International Airport (HRG)9 km from centre111 non-stop destinationsMarrakesh Menara Airport (RAK)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureHurghadaMarrakech
City population214,2471,002,697
People per km²-4,360
Museums within 10 km114
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

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