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 old harbour in Kaleiçi, Antalya
AntalyaThe old harbour in Kaleiçi

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Antalya by Furkan Tumer, Pexels License.

Abu Dhabi or Antalya?

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
  • families
  • shopping

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

Choose Antalya for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Antalya’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, Antalya 82: Antalya leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Antalya 57: Antalya leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Antalya 55: Abu Dhabi leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Antalya 48: Antalya leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Antalya 83: Antalya leads by 55 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Antalya 78: Antalya leads by 33 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Antalya 74: Abu Dhabi leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Antalya 50: Antalya leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Antalya 44: Abu Dhabi leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Antalya 62: Antalya leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Antalya 40: Antalya leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Antalya 62: Antalya leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Abu Dhabi and Antalya.

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 families with your weighting.

Antalya
Best match
61match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and day trips 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

Antalya in July

35 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
2 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiAntalya

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.

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). Antalya: 1991-2020 normals, Antalya (23.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiAntalya
Official languageArabicTurkish
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Turkish Lira (TRY)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+3
Emergency number112112
Elevation14 m30 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsAntalya International Airport (AYT)9 km from centre172 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiAntalya
City population1,570,0002,426,356
People per km²1,6151,712
Museums within 10 km35
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 Antalya 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.