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 Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires
Buenos AiresThe Teatro Colón

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Buenos Aires by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Abu Dhabi or Buenos Aires?

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
  • wellness

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

Choose Buenos Aires for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Buenos Aires’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, Buenos Aires 7: Abu Dhabi leads by 71 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Buenos Aires 75: Buenos Aires leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Buenos Aires 71: Buenos Aires leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Buenos Aires 95: Buenos Aires leads by 61 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Buenos Aires 38: Buenos Aires leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Buenos Aires 60: Buenos Aires leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Buenos Aires 52: Abu Dhabi leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Buenos Aires 62: Buenos Aires leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Buenos Aires 60: Buenos Aires leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Buenos Aires 55: Buenos Aires leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Buenos Aires 75: Buenos Aires leads by 43 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Buenos Aires 28: Abu Dhabi leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Abu Dhabi and Buenos Aires.

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.

Buenos Aires
Best match
57match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts 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

Buenos Aires in July

15 °Cdaytime high
8 °Cnight-time low
50 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
13 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiBuenos Aires

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). Buenos Aires: 1991-2020 normals, Aeroparque Bs. As. Aerodrome (4.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiBuenos Aires
Official languageArabicSpanish
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Argentine Peso (ARS)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzCI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+4UTC-3
Emergency number112117 or 911
Elevation14 m25 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsEzeiza International Airport - Ministro Pistarini (EZE)28 km from centre48 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-16 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiBuenos Aires
City population1,570,0003,121,707
People per km²1,61515,355
Museums within 10 km376
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C11 months4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Abu Dhabi or Buenos Aires 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.