VacationSelector
The domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi
Abu DhabiThe domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
Cardiff Castle, Cardiff
CardiffCardiff Castle

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Cardiff by Tevfik Teker, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Abu Dhabi or Cardiff?

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 Cardiff for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Cardiff’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, Cardiff 30: Abu Dhabi leads by 48 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Cardiff 45: Abu Dhabi leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Cardiff 58: Abu Dhabi leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Cardiff 50: Cardiff leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Cardiff 70: Cardiff leads by 42 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Cardiff 72: Cardiff leads by 27 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Cardiff 58: Abu Dhabi leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Cardiff 66: Cardiff leads by 42 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi and Cardiff are level on 50.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Cardiff 46: Cardiff leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Cardiff 57: Cardiff leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Cardiff 27: Abu Dhabi leads by 19 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Abu Dhabi and Cardiff.

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.

Cardiff
Best match
52match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around 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

Cardiff in July

20 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
83 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiCardiff

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.

Cardiff 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.

Cardiff's sunshine is measured 83 km from the centre, at Lyneham.

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). Cardiff: 1991-2020 normals, Cardiff-Wales Airport (14.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiCardiff
Official languageArabicEnglish
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Pound Sterling (GBP)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+4UTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112112 or 999
Elevation14 m41 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsCardiff International Airport (CWL)15 km from centre30 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-8 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiCardiff
City population1,570,000383,536
People per km²1,6152,734
Museums within 10 km39
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C11 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Abu Dhabi or Cardiff 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.