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 church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Abu Dhabi or Arequipa?

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
  • day trips

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

Choose Arequipa for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Arequipa’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, Arequipa 8: Abu Dhabi leads by 70 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Arequipa 66: Arequipa leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi and Arequipa are level on 64.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Arequipa 36: Arequipa leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Arequipa 74: Arequipa leads by 46 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Arequipa 30: Abu Dhabi leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Arequipa 35: Abu Dhabi leads by 47 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Arequipa 54: Arequipa leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Arequipa 44: Abu Dhabi leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Arequipa 82: Arequipa leads by 44 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Arequipa 27: Abu Dhabi leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Arequipa 34: Abu Dhabi leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Abu Dhabi and Arequipa.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Abu Dhabi
48match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Arequipa
46match

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

Arequipa in July

21 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

010203040JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiArequipa

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.

Arequipa's station stands 203 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

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). Arequipa: 1991-2020 normals, Arequipa (9.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiArequipa
Official languageArabicSpanish, Aymara, Quechua
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Sol (PEN)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC-5
Emergency number112111 or 911
Elevation14 m2,335 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-17 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiArequipa
City population1,570,0001,008,290
People per km²1,6151,551
Museums within 10 km33
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Arequipa 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.