VacationSelector
The domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi
Abu DhabiThe domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License.

Abu Dhabi or Chicago?

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
  • wellness
  • prices

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

Choose Chicago for

  • live music and the arts
  • getting around
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Chicago’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, Chicago 50: Abu Dhabi leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Chicago 80: Chicago leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Chicago 78: Chicago leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Chicago 77: Chicago leads by 43 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Chicago 48: Chicago leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Chicago 42: Abu Dhabi leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Chicago 78: Abu Dhabi leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Chicago 72: Chicago leads by 48 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Chicago 70: Chicago leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Chicago 33: Abu Dhabi leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Chicago 82: Chicago leads by 50 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Chicago 33: Abu Dhabi leads by 13 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Abu Dhabi
48match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

Chicago
Best match
62match

Wins on live music and the arts 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

Chicago in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
102 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiChicago

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). Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiChicago
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 m179 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiChicago
City population1,570,0002,746,388
People per km²1,6154,529
Museums within 10 km344
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C11 months1 month

Where else could you go?

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