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 Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake, Guilin
GuilinThe Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Guilin by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Abu Dhabi or Guilin?

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 Guilin for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Guilin’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, Guilin 8: Abu Dhabi leads by 70 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Guilin 45: Abu Dhabi leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Guilin 40: Abu Dhabi leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Guilin 30: Abu Dhabi leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Guilin 88: Guilin leads by 60 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Guilin 56: Guilin leads by 11 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Guilin 45: Abu Dhabi leads by 37 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Guilin 45: Guilin leads by 21 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Guilin 28: Abu Dhabi leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Guilin 78: Guilin leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Guilin 30: Abu Dhabi leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Guilin 40: Abu Dhabi leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Abu Dhabi and Guilin.

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.

Guilin
44match

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

Guilin in July

33 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
248 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiGuilin

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). Guilin: 1991-2020 normals, Guilin (7.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiGuilin
Official languageArabicPutonghua
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+8
Emergency number112Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation14 m153 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsGuilin Liangjiang International Airport (KWL)25 km from centre43 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-6 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiGuilin
City population1,570,0004,931,137
People per km²1,615-
Museums within 10 km31
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Guilin 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.