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 pyramids of Giza, Cairo
CairoThe pyramids of Giza

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Cairo by Ricardo Liberato, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Abu Dhabi or Cairo?

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 Cairo for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Cairo’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, Cairo 10: Abu Dhabi leads by 68 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Cairo 60: Cairo leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Cairo 96: Cairo leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Cairo 48: Cairo leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Cairo 30: Cairo leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Cairo 66: Cairo leads by 21 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Cairo 32: Abu Dhabi leads by 50 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Cairo 35: Cairo leads by 11 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Cairo 58: Cairo leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Cairo 95: Cairo leads by 57 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Cairo 50: Cairo leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Cairo 15: Abu Dhabi leads by 31 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Abu Dhabi and Cairo.

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.

Cairo
50match

Wins on prices and culture and sights 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

Cairo in July

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

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

051015JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiCairo

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). Cairo: 1991-2020 normals, Helwan (21.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiCairo
Official languageArabicArabic
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Egyptian Pound (EGP)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number112Police 122, ambulance 123, fire 180
Elevation14 m23 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsCairo International Airport (CAI)17 km from centre127 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-15 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiCairo
City population1,570,0009,801,536
People per km²1,61518,564
Museums within 10 km348
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
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 Cairo 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.