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 Palais des Papes and the cathedral, Avignon
AvignonThe Palais des Papes and the cathedral

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Avignon by BlueBreezeWiki, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Abu Dhabi or Avignon?

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
  • shopping

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

Choose Avignon for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Avignon’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, Avignon 22: Abu Dhabi leads by 56 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Avignon 57: Avignon leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Avignon 69: Avignon leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Avignon 30: Abu Dhabi leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Avignon 70: Avignon leads by 42 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Avignon 92: Avignon leads by 47 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Avignon 45: Abu Dhabi leads by 37 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Avignon 62: Avignon leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Avignon 38: Abu Dhabi leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Avignon 44: Avignon leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Avignon 68: Avignon leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Avignon 35: Abu Dhabi leads by 11 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Abu Dhabi and Avignon.

Your match

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

Abu Dhabi
48match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Avignon
Best match
53match

Wins on day trips and nature and the outdoors 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

Avignon in July

32 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
24 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiAvignon

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.

Avignon 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.

Avignon's sunshine is measured 65 km from the centre, at Marseille / Marignane.

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). Avignon: 2005-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Avignon / Morières-lès-Avignon (8.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiAvignon
Official languageArabicFrench
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation14 m10 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsMarseille Provence Airport (MRS)65 km from centre126 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiAvignon
City population1,570,00092,188
People per km²1,6151,420
Museums within 10 km311
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km06
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 Avignon 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). 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.