VacationSelector
Sugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay, Rio de Janeiro
Rio de JaneiroSugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay
The Cap Spartel lighthouse among palms, Tangier
TangierThe Cap Spartel lighthouse among palms

Photos: Rio de Janeiro by Arne Müseler, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, cropped; Tangier by Ideophagous, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Rio de Janeiro or Tangier?

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 Rio de Janeiro for

  • nightlife
  • beaches
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Rio de Janeiro’s own page.

Choose Tangier for

  • day trips
  • wellness
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Tangier’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. Rio de Janeiro 92, Tangier 50: Rio de Janeiro leads by 42 points.
Food & drink. Rio de Janeiro 62, Tangier 58: Rio de Janeiro leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Rio de Janeiro 68, Tangier 57: Rio de Janeiro leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Rio de Janeiro 80, Tangier 30: Rio de Janeiro leads by 50 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rio de Janeiro 90, Tangier 55: Rio de Janeiro leads by 35 points.
Day trips. Rio de Janeiro 50, Tangier 72: Tangier leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Rio de Janeiro 50, Tangier 35: Rio de Janeiro leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Rio de Janeiro 44, Tangier 40: Rio de Janeiro leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Rio de Janeiro 50, Tangier 42: Rio de Janeiro leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Rio de Janeiro 60, Tangier 76: Tangier leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rio de Janeiro 66, Tangier 28: Rio de Janeiro leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rio de Janeiro 30, Tangier 50: Tangier leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Rio de Janeiro and Tangier.

Your match

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

Rio de Janeiro
Best match
62match

Wins on nightlife and beaches with your weighting.

Tangier
49match

Wins on day trips and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Rio de Janeiro in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
45 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
22 °Csea
11 hdaylight a day

Tangier in July

29 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
22 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Rio de JaneiroTangier

Where the figures come from

Rio de Janeiro 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. Rio de Janeiro: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Tangier: 1991-2020 normals, Tanger Aerodrome (9.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRio de JaneiroTangier
Official languagePortugueseArabic, Standard Moroccan Tamazight
CurrencyBrazilian Real (BRL)Moroccan Dirham (MAD)
SocketsCN60 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC+1
Emergency numberPolice 190, ambulance 192, fire 193Police 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15
Elevation31 m56 m
Main airportRio de Janeiro Galeão – Tom Jobim International Airport (GIG)12 km from centre54 non-stop destinationsTangier Ibn Battuta Airport (TNG)11 km from centre50 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureRio de JaneiroTangier
City population6,211,2231,275,428
People per km²4,9306,393
Museums within 10 km696
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Rio de Janeiro or Tangier somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.

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.