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 skyline and yachts on the canals, Fort Lauderdale
Fort LauderdaleThe skyline and yachts on the canals

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Fort Lauderdale by KeanoManu, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Abu Dhabi or Fort Lauderdale?

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

  • culture and sights
  • families
  • food and drink

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

Choose Fort Lauderdale for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Fort Lauderdale’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, Fort Lauderdale 88: Fort Lauderdale leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Fort Lauderdale 47: Abu Dhabi leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Fort Lauderdale 28: Abu Dhabi leads by 36 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Fort Lauderdale 52: Fort Lauderdale leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Fort Lauderdale 62: Fort Lauderdale leads by 34 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Fort Lauderdale 58: Fort Lauderdale leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Fort Lauderdale 66: Abu Dhabi leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Fort Lauderdale 32: Fort Lauderdale leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Fort Lauderdale 52: Fort Lauderdale leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Fort Lauderdale 32: Abu Dhabi leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Fort Lauderdale 42: Fort Lauderdale leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Fort Lauderdale 40: Abu Dhabi leads by 6 points.
0255075100

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

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 culture and sights and families with your weighting.

Fort Lauderdale
50match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and nightlife 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

Fort Lauderdale in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
166 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiFort Lauderdale

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). Fort Lauderdale: 1991-2020 normals, Fort Lauderdale (7.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiFort Lauderdale
Official languageArabic-
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation14 m11 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsFort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL)7 km from centre136 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiFort Lauderdale
City population1,570,000182,760
People per km²1,6151,829
Museums within 10 km36
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C11 months12 months

Where else could you go?

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