VacationSelector
The Koutoubia Mosque from its gardens, Marrakech
MarrakechThe Koutoubia Mosque from its gardens
The Treasury, Al-Khazneh, cut into the rock, Petra
PetraThe Treasury, Al-Khazneh, cut into the rock

Photos: Marrakech by Jorge Franganillo, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Petra by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License.

Marrakech or Petra?

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
  • food and drink

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

Choose Petra for

  • culture and sights
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Petra’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, Petra 5: Marrakech leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Marrakech 64, Petra 22: Marrakech leads by 42 points.
Culture & sights. Marrakech 76, Petra 85: Petra leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Marrakech 33, Petra 5: Marrakech leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Marrakech 70, Petra 78: Petra leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Marrakech 28, Petra 30: Petra leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Marrakech and Petra are level on 25.
Getting around. Marrakech 38, Petra 25: Marrakech leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. Marrakech 72, Petra 18: Marrakech leads by 54 points.
Affordability. Marrakech 72, Petra 45: Marrakech leads by 27 points.
Live music & performing arts. Marrakech 25, Petra 10: Marrakech leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Marrakech 75, Petra 28: Marrakech leads by 47 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Marrakech and Petra.

Your match

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

Marrakech
Best match
49match

Wins on shopping and wellness with your weighting.

Petra
31match

Wins on culture and sights and nature and the outdoors 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
14 hdaylight a day

Petra in July

35 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

01020304050JFMAMJJASOND
MarrakechPetra

Where the figures come from

Petra's temperatures are measured 34 km from the centre, at Ma'An.

Petra's station stands 219 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Petra 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). Petra: 1991-2020 normals, Ma'An (33.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMarrakechPetra
Official languageArabic, Standard Moroccan TamazightArabic
CurrencyMoroccan Dirham (MAD)Jordanian Dinar (JOD)
SocketsCE50 HzBCFGJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1UTC+3
Emergency numberPolice 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15911
Elevation465 m850 m
Main airportMarrakesh Menara Airport (RAK)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinationsKing Hussein International Airport (AQJ)90 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureMarrakechPetra
City population1,002,697-
People per km²4,360-
Museums within 10 km142
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11

Where else could you go?

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