VacationSelector
The Koutoubia Mosque from its gardens, Marrakech
MarrakechThe Koutoubia Mosque from its gardens
The lighthouse in the Paphos Archaeological Park, Paphos
PaphosThe lighthouse in the Paphos Archaeological Park

Photos: Marrakech by Jorge Franganillo, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Paphos by Nikodem Nijaki, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Marrakech or Paphos?

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

  • shopping
  • wellness
  • prices

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

Choose Paphos for

  • beaches
  • families
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Paphos’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, Paphos 76: Paphos leads by 69 points.
Food & drink. Marrakech 64, Paphos 45: Marrakech leads by 19 points.
Culture & sights. Marrakech 76, Paphos 62: Marrakech leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Marrakech 33, Paphos 38: Paphos leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Marrakech and Paphos are level on 70.
Day trips. Marrakech 28, Paphos 64: Paphos leads by 36 points.
Good for families. Marrakech 25, Paphos 68: Paphos leads by 43 points.
Getting around. Marrakech 38, Paphos 40: Paphos leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Marrakech 72, Paphos 25: Marrakech leads by 47 points.
Affordability. Marrakech 72, Paphos 52: Marrakech leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Marrakech 25, Paphos 22: Marrakech leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Marrakech 75, Paphos 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 Paphos.

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 shopping and wellness with your weighting.

Paphos
50match

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

Paphos in July

30 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
MarrakechPaphos

Where the figures come from

Paphos has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Marrakech: 1991-2020 normals, Marrakech (5.1 km from centre). Paphos: 1991-2020 normals, Paphos Airport (8.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMarrakechPaphos
Official languageArabic, Standard Moroccan TamazightTurkish, Greek, Modern Greek
CurrencyMoroccan Dirham (MAD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15112
Elevation465 m72 m
Main airportMarrakesh Menara Airport (RAK)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinationsPaphos International Airport (PFO)8 km from centre58 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days17 days

By the numbers

MeasureMarrakechPaphos
City population1,002,69735,961
People per km²4,3601,987
Museums within 10 km144
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C-6 months

Where else could you go?

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