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 Istiqlal Mosque, Jakarta
JakartaThe Istiqlal Mosque

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Jakarta by Antonyus Bunjamin, Pexels License.

Abu Dhabi or Jakarta?

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 Jakarta for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Jakarta’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, Jakarta 28: Abu Dhabi leads by 50 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Jakarta 78: Jakarta leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Jakarta 48: Abu Dhabi leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Jakarta 66: Jakarta leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Jakarta 30: Jakarta leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi and Jakarta are level on 45.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Jakarta 50: Abu Dhabi leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Jakarta 36: Jakarta leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Jakarta 64: Jakarta leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Jakarta 80: Jakarta leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Jakarta 42: Jakarta leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi and Jakarta are level on 46.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Abu Dhabi and Jakarta.

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.

Jakarta
Best match
51match

Wins on prices and nightlife 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

Jakarta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
85 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiJakarta

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). Jakarta: 1991-2020 normals, Jakarta / Observatory (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiJakarta
Official languageArabicIndonesian
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Rupiah (IDR)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzCF50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+7
Emergency number112112
Elevation14 m91 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsSoekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK)20 km from centre89 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiJakarta
City population1,570,00011,135,191
People per km²1,61516,821
Museums within 10 km344
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C11 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Abu Dhabi or Jakarta 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. 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.