VacationSelector
The Koutoubia Mosque from its gardens, Marrakech
MarrakechThe Koutoubia Mosque from its gardens
A bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay, Montego Bay
Montego BayA bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay

Photos: Marrakech by Jorge Franganillo, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Montego Bay by Dre Dawkcide, Pexels License.

Marrakech or Montego Bay?

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 Marrakech for

  • culture and sights
  • shopping
  • prices

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

Choose Montego Bay for

  • beaches
  • families
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Montego Bay’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. Marrakech 7, Montego Bay 84: Montego Bay leads by 77 points.
Food & drink. Marrakech 64, Montego Bay 50: Marrakech leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Marrakech 76, Montego Bay 28: Marrakech leads by 48 points.
Nightlife. Marrakech 33, Montego Bay 42: Montego Bay leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Marrakech 70, Montego Bay 65: Marrakech leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Marrakech 28, Montego Bay 50: Montego Bay leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Marrakech 25, Montego Bay 48: Montego Bay leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Marrakech 38, Montego Bay 20: Marrakech leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Marrakech 72, Montego Bay 25: Marrakech leads by 47 points.
Affordability. Marrakech 72, Montego Bay 38: Marrakech leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Marrakech 25, Montego Bay 32: Montego Bay leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Marrakech 75, Montego Bay 45: Marrakech leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Marrakech and Montego Bay.

Your match

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

Marrakech
Best match
49match

Wins on culture and sights and shopping with your weighting.

Montego Bay
44match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

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

Montego Bay in July

34 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
75 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
MarrakechMontego Bay

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Marrakech: 1991-2020 normals, Marrakech (5.1 km from centre). Montego Bay: 1991-2020 normals, Montego Bay / Sangster (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMarrakechMontego Bay
Official languageArabic, Standard Moroccan TamazightEnglish, Jamaican Patois
CurrencyMoroccan Dirham (MAD)Jamaican Dollar (JMD)
SocketsCE50 HzAB116 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1UTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15Police 110/112/119/911, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation465 m19 m
Main airportMarrakesh Menara Airport (RAK)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinationsSangster International Airport (MBJ)4 km from centre48 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureMarrakechMontego Bay
City population1,002,697123,994
People per km²4,360-
Museums within 10 km140
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Marrakech or Montego Bay 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.