VacationSelector
The Koutoubia Mosque from its gardens, Marrakech
MarrakechThe Koutoubia Mosque from its gardens
The opera house on Place de la Comédie, Montpellier
MontpellierThe opera house on Place de la Comédie

Photos: Marrakech by Jorge Franganillo, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Montpellier by Peter, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Marrakech or Montpellier?

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

  • wellness
  • shopping
  • prices

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

Choose Montpellier for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Montpellier’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, Montpellier 64: Montpellier leads by 57 points.
Food & drink. Marrakech and Montpellier are level on 64.
Culture & sights. Marrakech 76, Montpellier 60: Marrakech leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Marrakech 33, Montpellier 56: Montpellier leads by 23 points.
Nature & outdoors. Marrakech 70, Montpellier 72: Montpellier leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Marrakech 28, Montpellier 85: Montpellier leads by 57 points.
Good for families. Marrakech 25, Montpellier 62: Montpellier leads by 37 points.
Getting around. Marrakech 38, Montpellier 74: Montpellier leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Marrakech 72, Montpellier 47: Marrakech leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Marrakech 72, Montpellier 50: Marrakech leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Marrakech 25, Montpellier 63: Montpellier leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Marrakech 75, Montpellier 42: Marrakech leads by 33 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Marrakech and Montpellier.

Your match

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

Marrakech
49match

Wins on wellness and shopping with your weighting.

Montpellier
Best match
62match

Wins on beaches 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.

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

Montpellier in July

30 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
17 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
MarrakechMontpellier

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Marrakech: 1991-2020 normals, Marrakech (5.1 km from centre). Montpellier: 1991-2020 normals, Montpellier (7.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMarrakechMontpellier
Official languageArabic, Standard Moroccan TamazightFrench
CurrencyMoroccan Dirham (MAD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15112
Elevation465 m7 m
Main airportMarrakesh Menara Airport (RAK)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinationsMontpellier-Méditerranée Airport (MPL)8 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureMarrakechMontpellier
City population1,002,697310,240
People per km²4,3605,452
Museums within 10 km1414
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C-2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Marrakech or Montpellier 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.