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 Aare at Unterseen, Interlaken, Interlaken
InterlakenThe Aare at Unterseen, Interlaken

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Interlaken by Roy Egloff, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Abu Dhabi or Interlaken?

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
  • beaches
  • food and drink

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

Choose Interlaken for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Interlaken’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, Interlaken 30: Abu Dhabi leads by 48 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Interlaken 25: Abu Dhabi leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Interlaken 8: Abu Dhabi leads by 56 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Interlaken 15: Abu Dhabi leads by 19 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Interlaken 97: Interlaken leads by 69 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Interlaken 78: Interlaken leads by 33 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Interlaken 72: Abu Dhabi leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Interlaken 80: Interlaken leads by 56 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Interlaken 22: Abu Dhabi leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Interlaken 8: Abu Dhabi leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Interlaken 15: Abu Dhabi leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Interlaken 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 Interlaken.

Your match

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

Abu Dhabi
Best match
48match

Wins on culture and sights and beaches with your weighting.

Interlaken
41match

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

Interlaken in July

24 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiInterlaken

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.

Interlaken 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). Interlaken: 2005-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Meiringen / Unterbach (19.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiInterlaken
Official languageArabicFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation14 m571 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)100 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-10 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiInterlaken
City population1,570,0006,123
People per km²1,6151,424
Museums within 10 km33
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
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 Interlaken 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). 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.