VacationSelector
The domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi
Abu DhabiThe domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
Korenlei reflected in the Leie, Ghent
GhentKorenlei reflected in the Leie

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Ghent by ykeiko, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Abu Dhabi or Ghent?

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 Ghent for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Ghent’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, Ghent 25: Abu Dhabi leads by 53 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Ghent 62: Ghent leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Ghent 72: Ghent leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Ghent 55: Ghent leads by 21 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Ghent 35: Ghent leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Ghent 88: Ghent leads by 43 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Ghent 50: Abu Dhabi leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Ghent 78: Ghent leads by 54 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi and Ghent are level on 50.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi and Ghent are level on 38.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Ghent 60: Ghent leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Ghent 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 Ghent.

Your match

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

Abu Dhabi
48match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Ghent
Best match
54match

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

Ghent in July

23 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
77 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiGhent

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.

Ghent 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.

Ghent's sunshine is measured 45 km from the centre, at Vlissingen.

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). Ghent: 2009-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Melle / Kalverhaag (10.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiGhent
Official languageArabicFrench, German, Dutch
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation14 m12 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsBrussels Airport (BRU)56 km from centre191 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiGhent
City population1,570,000272,657
People per km²1,6151,728
Museums within 10 km330
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km05
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 Ghent 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. 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.