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 red five-storey pagoda of Tocho-ji, Fukuoka
FukuokaThe red five-storey pagoda of Tocho-ji

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Fukuoka by Nick-D, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Abu Dhabi or Fukuoka?

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
  • culture and sights
  • families

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

Choose Fukuoka for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Fukuoka’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, Fukuoka 50: Abu Dhabi leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Fukuoka 82: Fukuoka leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Fukuoka 50: Abu Dhabi leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Fukuoka 60: Fukuoka leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Fukuoka 62: Fukuoka leads by 34 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Fukuoka 84: Fukuoka leads by 39 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Fukuoka 78: Abu Dhabi leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Fukuoka 82: Fukuoka leads by 58 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Fukuoka 65: Fukuoka leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Fukuoka 58: Fukuoka leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Fukuoka 45: Fukuoka leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Fukuoka 60: Fukuoka leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Abu Dhabi and Fukuoka.

Your match

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

Abu Dhabi
48match

Wins on beaches and culture and sights with your weighting.

Fukuoka
Best match
65match

Wins on getting around and day trips 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

Fukuoka in July

31 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
301 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiFukuoka

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). Fukuoka: 1991-2020 normals, Fukuoka (1.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiFukuoka
Official languageArabicJapanese
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Yen (JPY)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+9
Emergency number112Police 110, fire 119
Elevation14 m8 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsFukuoka Airport (FUK)5 km from centre46 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-16 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiFukuoka
City population1,570,0001,603,043
People per km²1,6154,715
Museums within 10 km323
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C11 months4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Abu Dhabi or Fukuoka 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.