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 Texas State Capitol under a blue sky, Austin
AustinThe Texas State Capitol under a blue sky

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Austin by LoneStarMike, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Abu Dhabi or Austin?

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 Austin for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Austin’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, Austin 30: Abu Dhabi leads by 48 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Austin 66: Austin leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Austin 40: Abu Dhabi leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Austin 65: Austin leads by 31 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Austin 57: Austin leads by 29 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Austin 58: Austin leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Austin 55: Abu Dhabi leads by 27 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Austin 30: Austin leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Austin 45: Abu Dhabi leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Austin 33: Abu Dhabi leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Austin 77: Austin leads by 45 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Austin 40: Abu Dhabi leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Abu Dhabi and Austin.

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.

Austin
50match

Wins on live music and the arts and nightlife 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

Austin in July

36 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
49 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiAustin

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). Austin: 1991-2020 normals, Camp Mabry/Austin City Asos (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiAustin
Official languageArabic-
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation14 m149 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsAustin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)13 km from centre91 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiAustin
City population1,570,000961,855
People per km²1,6151,217
Museums within 10 km321
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Austin 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). 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.