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 Umayyad Palace on the Amman Citadel, Amman
AmmanThe Umayyad Palace on the Amman Citadel

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Amman by AXP Photography, Pexels License.

Abu Dhabi or Amman?

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

  • beaches
  • families
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Amman for

  • day trips
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Amman’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, Amman 22: Abu Dhabi leads by 56 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Amman 62: Amman leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Amman 54: Abu Dhabi leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Amman 32: Abu Dhabi leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Amman 45: Amman leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Amman 80: Amman leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Amman 38: Abu Dhabi leads by 44 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Amman 30: Amman leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Amman 42: Abu Dhabi leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Amman 58: Amman leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Amman 27: Abu Dhabi leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Amman 55: Amman leads by 9 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Abu Dhabi and Amman.

Your match

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

Abu Dhabi
Best match
48match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Amman
45match

Wins on day trips 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

Amman in July

33 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiAmman

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.

Amman 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.

Amman's sunshine is measured 55 km from the centre, at Mafraq.

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). Amman: 1994-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Amman Airport (6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiAmman
Official languageArabicArabic
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Jordanian Dinar (JOD)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzBCFGJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+3
Emergency number112911
Elevation14 m776 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsQueen Alia International Airport (AMM)26 km from centre98 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiAmman
City population1,570,0004,007,526
People per km²1,6152,385
Museums within 10 km38
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km03
Swim season, months above 21 °C11 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Abu Dhabi or Amman 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. 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.