VacationSelector
The Koutoubia Mosque from its gardens, Marrakech
MarrakechThe Koutoubia Mosque from its gardens
Waterfront houses on Harbor Island in Newport Harbor, Newport Beach
Newport BeachWaterfront houses on Harbor Island in Newport Harbor

Photos: Marrakech by Jorge Franganillo, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Newport Beach by Don Ramey Logan, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Marrakech or Newport Beach?

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

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • wellness

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

Choose Newport Beach for

  • beaches
  • families
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Newport Beach’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, Newport Beach 70: Newport Beach leads by 63 points.
Food & drink. Marrakech 64, Newport Beach 50: Marrakech leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Marrakech 76, Newport Beach 20: Marrakech leads by 56 points.
Nightlife. Marrakech and Newport Beach are level on 33.
Nature & outdoors. Marrakech 70, Newport Beach 66: Marrakech leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Marrakech 28, Newport Beach 70: Newport Beach leads by 42 points.
Good for families. Marrakech 25, Newport Beach 80: Newport Beach leads by 55 points.
Getting around. Marrakech 38, Newport Beach 20: Marrakech leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Marrakech 72, Newport Beach 62: Marrakech leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Marrakech 72, Newport Beach 15: Marrakech leads by 57 points.
Live music & performing arts. Marrakech 25, Newport Beach 46: Newport Beach leads by 21 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Marrakech 75, Newport Beach 44: Marrakech leads by 31 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Marrakech and Newport Beach.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Marrakech
49match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Newport Beach
48match

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

Newport Beach in July

26 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
MarrakechNewport Beach

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Marrakech: 1991-2020 normals, Marrakech (5.1 km from centre). Newport Beach: 1991-2020 (rainfall 1981-2010) normals, Santa Ana / Paularino (7.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMarrakechNewport Beach
Official languageArabic, Standard Moroccan Tamazight-
CurrencyMoroccan Dirham (MAD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCE50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15911
Elevation465 m3 m
Main airportMarrakesh Menara Airport (RAK)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinationsJohn Wayne Orange County International Airport (SNA)7 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureMarrakechNewport Beach
City population1,002,69785,239
People per km²4,360622
Museums within 10 km144
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Marrakech or Newport Beach 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.