VacationSelector
The Koutoubia Mosque from its gardens, Marrakech
MarrakechThe Koutoubia Mosque from its gardens
The white beach below the high-rise hotels, Orange Beach
Orange BeachThe white beach below the high-rise hotels

Photos: Marrakech by Jorge Franganillo, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Orange Beach by WeaponizingArchitecture, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Marrakech or Orange 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

  • culture and sights
  • shopping
  • wellness

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

Choose Orange Beach for

  • beaches
  • families
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Orange 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, Orange Beach 86: Orange Beach leads by 79 points.
Food & drink. Marrakech 64, Orange Beach 40: Marrakech leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Marrakech 76, Orange Beach 7: Marrakech leads by 69 points.
Nightlife. Marrakech 33, Orange Beach 30: Marrakech leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Marrakech 70, Orange Beach 60: Marrakech leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Marrakech 28, Orange Beach 50: Orange Beach leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Marrakech 25, Orange Beach 75: Orange Beach leads by 50 points.
Getting around. Marrakech 38, Orange Beach 15: Marrakech leads by 23 points.
Shopping & style. Marrakech 72, Orange Beach 25: Marrakech leads by 47 points.
Affordability. Marrakech 72, Orange Beach 38: Marrakech leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Marrakech 25, Orange Beach 32: Orange Beach leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Marrakech 75, Orange Beach 32: Marrakech leads by 43 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Marrakech and Orange Beach.

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.

Orange Beach
41match

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

Orange Beach in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
200 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
MarrakechOrange Beach

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Marrakech: 1991-2020 normals, Marrakech (5.1 km from centre). Orange Beach: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Gulf Shores / Bay Village Mobile Home Park (10.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMarrakechOrange Beach
Official languageArabic, Standard Moroccan Tamazight-
CurrencyMoroccan Dirham (MAD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCE50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1UTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15911
Elevation465 m4 m
Main airportMarrakesh Menara Airport (RAK)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinationsPensacola International Airport (PNS)41 km from centre27 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureMarrakechOrange Beach
City population1,002,6978,095
People per km²4,360196
Museums within 10 km140
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-8 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Marrakech or Orange 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.