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 Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía, Cusco
CuscoThe Plaza de Armas with the cathedral and La Compañía

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Cusco by Pedro Szekely, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Abu Dhabi or Cusco?

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 Cusco for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Cusco’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, Cusco 3: Abu Dhabi leads by 75 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Cusco 56: Cusco leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Cusco 81: Cusco leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Cusco 42: Cusco leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Cusco 86: Cusco leads by 58 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Cusco 78: Cusco leads by 33 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Cusco 10: Abu Dhabi leads by 72 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Cusco 48: Cusco leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Cusco 52: Cusco leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Cusco 73: Cusco leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Cusco 30: Abu Dhabi leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Cusco 33: Abu Dhabi leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Abu Dhabi and Cusco.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Abu Dhabi
48match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Cusco
49match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and prices 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

Cusco in July

20 °Cdaytime high
1 °Cnight-time low
5 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiCusco

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.

Cusco's station stands 151 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

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). Cusco: 1991-2020 normals, Cuzco (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiCusco
Official languageArabicSpanish, Aymara, Quechua
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Sol (PEN)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC-5
Emergency number112111 or 911
Elevation14 m3,399 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsAlejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ)5 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-16 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiCusco
City population1,570,000428,450
People per km²1,615-
Museums within 10 km311
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 Cusco 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.