VacationSelector
The domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi
Abu DhabiThe domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
Galway Cathedral from the River Corrib, Galway
GalwayGalway Cathedral from the River Corrib

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Galway by Dieglop, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Abu Dhabi or Galway?

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
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Galway for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Galway’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, Galway 28: Abu Dhabi leads by 50 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Galway 45: Abu Dhabi leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Galway 33: Abu Dhabi leads by 31 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Galway 50: Galway leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Galway 78: Galway leads by 50 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Galway 56: Galway leads by 11 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Galway 42: Abu Dhabi leads by 40 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Galway 58: Galway leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Galway 38: Abu Dhabi leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Galway 28: Abu Dhabi leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Galway 57: Galway leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Galway 28: Abu Dhabi leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Abu Dhabi and Galway.

Your match

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

Abu Dhabi
Best match
48match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Galway
45match

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

Galway in July

20 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
91 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiGalway

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.

Galway's temperatures are measured 64 km from the centre, at Shannon Airport.

Galway 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). Galway: 1991-2020 normals, Shannon Airport (64.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiGalway
Official languageArabicEnglish, Irish
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+4UTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation14 m25 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsShannon Airport (SNN)64 km from centre39 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiGalway
City population1,570,00083,456
People per km²1,6151,563
Museums within 10 km34
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Galway 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.