VacationSelector
The domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi
Abu DhabiThe domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
The Red Tower and the harbour, Alanya
AlanyaThe Red Tower and the harbour

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Alanya by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License.

Abu Dhabi or Alanya?

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 Abu Dhabi for

  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

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

Choose Alanya for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Alanya’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. Abu Dhabi 78, Alanya 84: Alanya leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Alanya 43: Abu Dhabi leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Alanya 44: Abu Dhabi leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Alanya 58: Alanya leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Alanya 68: Alanya leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Alanya 62: Alanya leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Alanya 70: Abu Dhabi leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Alanya 50: Alanya leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Alanya 34: Abu Dhabi leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Alanya 65: Alanya leads by 27 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Alanya 15: Abu Dhabi leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Alanya 56: Alanya leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Abu Dhabi and Alanya.

Your match

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

Abu Dhabi
48match

Wins on culture and sights and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Alanya
Best match
54match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Abu Dhabi in July

43 °Cdaytime high
30 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
33 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Alanya in July

32 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiAlanya

Where the figures come from

Abu Dhabi's temperatures are measured 26 km from the centre, at Abu Dhabi International Airport.

Abu Dhabi 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.

Alanya 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. Abu Dhabi: 1991-2020 normals, Abu Dhabi International Airport (25.7 km from centre). Alanya: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiAlanya
Official languageArabicTurkish
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Turkish Lira (TRY)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+3
Emergency number112112
Elevation14 m10 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsGazipaşa-Alanya Airport (GZP)38 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiAlanya
City population1,570,000364,180
People per km²1,615228
Museums within 10 km32
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C11 months7 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Abu Dhabi or Alanya 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.