VacationSelector
The Koutoubia Mosque from its gardens, Marrakech
MarrakechThe Koutoubia Mosque from its gardens
Ca' d'Zan, the Ringling mansion on Sarasota Bay, Sarasota
SarasotaCa' d'Zan, the Ringling mansion on Sarasota Bay

Photos: Marrakech by Jorge Franganillo, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Sarasota by Oleg Yunakov, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Marrakech or Sarasota?

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
  • shopping
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Sarasota for

  • beaches
  • families
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Sarasota’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, Sarasota 86: Sarasota leads by 79 points.
Food & drink. Marrakech 64, Sarasota 44: Marrakech leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Marrakech 76, Sarasota 45: Marrakech leads by 31 points.
Nightlife. Marrakech 33, Sarasota 28: Marrakech leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Marrakech 70, Sarasota 55: Marrakech leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Marrakech 28, Sarasota 50: Sarasota leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Marrakech 25, Sarasota 68: Sarasota leads by 43 points.
Getting around. Marrakech 38, Sarasota 28: Marrakech leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Marrakech 72, Sarasota 40: Marrakech leads by 32 points.
Affordability. Marrakech 72, Sarasota 30: Marrakech leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Marrakech 25, Sarasota 58: Sarasota leads by 33 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Marrakech 75, Sarasota 45: Marrakech leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Marrakech and Sarasota.

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 shopping with your weighting.

Sarasota
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

Sarasota in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
195 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
MarrakechSarasota

Where the figures come from

Sarasota 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.

Sarasota's sunshine is measured 70 km from the centre, at Tampa International Airport.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Marrakech: 1991-2020 normals, Marrakech (5.1 km from centre). Sarasota: 2006-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Sarasota / Ballentine Manor (6.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMarrakechSarasota
Official languageArabic, Standard Moroccan Tamazight-
CurrencyMoroccan Dirham (MAD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCE50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15911
Elevation465 m7 m
Main airportMarrakesh Menara Airport (RAK)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinationsSarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ)7 km from centre70 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureMarrakechSarasota
City population1,002,69754,842
People per km²4,360840
Museums within 10 km143
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 Sarasota 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.