VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
La Major cathedral from the harbour, Marseille
MarseilleLa Major cathedral from the harbour

Photos: Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Marseille by Charlotte Noblet, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Los Angeles or Marseille?

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 Los Angeles for

  • families
  • shopping
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Marseille for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Marseille’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. Los Angeles 60, Marseille 72: Marseille leads by 12 points.
Food & drink. Los Angeles 84, Marseille 67: Los Angeles leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Los Angeles 66, Marseille 63: Los Angeles leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Los Angeles 67, Marseille 57: Los Angeles leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Los Angeles 80, Marseille 83: Marseille leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Los Angeles 60, Marseille 86: Marseille leads by 26 points.
Good for families. Los Angeles 84, Marseille 50: Los Angeles leads by 34 points.
Getting around. Los Angeles 25, Marseille 57: Marseille leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Los Angeles 80, Marseille 47: Los Angeles leads by 33 points.
Affordability. Los Angeles 24, Marseille 45: Marseille leads by 21 points.
Live music & performing arts. Los Angeles 83, Marseille 56: Los Angeles leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Los Angeles 60, Marseille 37: Los Angeles leads by 23 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Los Angeles and Marseille.

Your match

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

Los Angeles
Best match
64match

Wins on families and shopping with your weighting.

Marseille
60match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Los Angeles in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Marseille in July

31 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
11 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
Los AngelesMarseille

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre). Marseille: 1991-2020 normals, Marseille / Marignane (20.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLos AngelesMarseille
Official language-French
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation106 m0 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsMarseille Provence Airport (MRS)21 km from centre126 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureLos AngelesMarseille
City population3,898,747886,040
People per km²2,9943,683
Museums within 10 km3927
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Los Angeles or Marseille 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). 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. 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.

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.