VacationSelector

Marrakech or Varanasi?

Two destinations compared in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.

The Koutoubia Mosque from its gardens, Marrakech
Marrakech

Photo: Jorge Franganillo, CC BY 2.0, cropped

Rowing boats below the ghats in the morning light, Varanasi
Varanasi

Photo: Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped

Your match

Marrakech
✓ Best match
49
match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and wellness with your weighting.

Varanasi
40
match

Wins on live music and the arts and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.

Scoreboard

Our verdict on each category, scored 0 to 100 against fixed benchmark cities.

MarrakechVaranasi
Beaches & swimming. Marrakech leads by 3 points.3
Food & drink. Marrakech leads by 9 points.9
Culture & sights. Varanasi leads by 4 points.4
Nightlife. Marrakech leads by 23 points.23
Nature & outdoors. Marrakech leads by 52 points.52
Day trips. Varanasi leads by 14 points.14
Good for families. Marrakech leads by 20 points.20
Getting around. Marrakech leads by 10 points.10
Shopping & style. Marrakech leads by 17 points.17
Affordability. Varanasi leads by 20 points.20
Live music & performing arts. Varanasi leads by 33 points.33
Wellness & relaxation. Marrakech leads by 45 points.45
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Marrakech and Varanasi.

When should you go?

Pick the month you can travel and see both cities side by side. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Climate figures for July
JulyMarrakechVaranasi
Daytime high38 °C35 °C
Night-time low21 °C27 °C
Rainfall in the month1 mm249 mm
Sunshine11 hours a dayNo figure
Daylight14 hours a day14 hours a day

The whole year

Each row is shaded against that destination’s own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that figure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Daytime high, °C
Marrakech
19
21
24
26
30
34
38
37
33
29
23
20
Varanasi
24
29
35
41
43
41
35
33
32
32
28
24
Rainfall, mm
Marrakech
26
27
36
28
9
3
1
3
14
19
29
25
Varanasi
12
14
10
11
23
110
249
200
146
34
2
5
Daylight, hours per day
Marrakech
10
11
12
13
14
14
14
13
12
11
11
10
Varanasi
11
11
12
13
13
14
14
13
12
12
11
11
Sunshine, hours per day
Marrakech
8
8
8
9
10
11
11
10
9
8
8
7
Varanasi
No sunshine record

Where the figures come from

Varanasi has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Marrakech: 1991-2020 normals, Marrakech (5.1 km from centre). Varanasi: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

WorseBetter

Before you go

MeasureMarrakechVaranasi
Official languageArabic, Standard Moroccan TamazightHindi, English
CurrencyMoroccan Dirham (MAD)Indian Rupee (INR)
SocketsCE50 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1UTC+5:30
Emergency numberPolice 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15108 or 112
Elevation465 m76 m
Main airportMarrakesh Menara Airport (RAK)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinationsLal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS)21 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days-

By the numbers

MeasureMarrakechVaranasi
City population1,002,6971,198,491
People per km²4,36014,598
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 Varanasi somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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. Typical fares from Travelpayouts (Aviasales data). Route-level air passenger statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate and flight figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-10-27. Typical prices can be up to 7 days old. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.