VacationSelector
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower
The Koutoubia Mosque from its gardens, Marrakech
MarrakechThe Koutoubia Mosque from its gardens

Photos: Johannesburg by K, Pexels License; Marrakech by Jorge Franganillo, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Johannesburg 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 Johannesburg for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • day trips

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

Choose Marrakech for

  • wellness
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

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. Johannesburg 5, Marrakech 7: Marrakech leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Johannesburg 58, Marrakech 64: Marrakech leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Johannesburg 56, Marrakech 76: Marrakech leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Johannesburg 62, Marrakech 33: Johannesburg leads by 29 points.
Nature & outdoors. Johannesburg 55, Marrakech 70: Marrakech leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Johannesburg 52, Marrakech 28: Johannesburg leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Johannesburg 42, Marrakech 25: Johannesburg leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Johannesburg 18, Marrakech 38: Marrakech leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Johannesburg 58, Marrakech 72: Marrakech leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Johannesburg and Marrakech are level on 72.
Live music & performing arts. Johannesburg 55, Marrakech 25: Johannesburg leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Johannesburg 28, Marrakech 75: Marrakech leads by 47 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Johannesburg
47match

Wins on live music and the arts and nightlife with your weighting.

Marrakech
49match

Wins on wellness and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Johannesburg in July

19 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
11 hdaylight a day

Marrakech in July

38 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
JohannesburgMarrakech

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Johannesburg: 2005-2019 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Johannesburg B / Roosevelt Park (7.3 km from centre). Marrakech: 1991-2020 normals, Marrakech (5.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJohannesburgMarrakech
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign LanguageArabic, Standard Moroccan Tamazight
CurrencyRand (ZAR)Moroccan Dirham (MAD)
SocketsCMN230 V, 50 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+2UTC+1
Emergency number112Police 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15
Elevation1,753 m465 m
Main airportO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinationsMarrakesh Menara Airport (RAK)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureJohannesburgMarrakech
City population4,803,2621,002,697
People per km²2,9224,360
Museums within 10 km1414
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Johannesburg 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.

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.