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 Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Johannesburg by K, Pexels License.

Abu Dhabi or Johannesburg?

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 Johannesburg for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Johannesburg’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, Johannesburg 5: Abu Dhabi leads by 73 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Johannesburg 58: Johannesburg leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Johannesburg 56: Abu Dhabi leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Johannesburg 62: Johannesburg leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Johannesburg 55: Johannesburg leads by 27 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Johannesburg 52: Johannesburg leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Johannesburg 42: Abu Dhabi leads by 40 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Johannesburg 18: Abu Dhabi leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Johannesburg 58: Johannesburg leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Johannesburg 72: Johannesburg leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Johannesburg 55: Johannesburg leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Johannesburg 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 Johannesburg.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Abu Dhabi
48match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Johannesburg
47match

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

Johannesburg in July

19 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiJohannesburg

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). Johannesburg: 2005-2019 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Johannesburg B / Roosevelt Park (7.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiJohannesburg
Official languageArabicEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign Language
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Rand (ZAR)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzCMN230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+2
Emergency number112112
Elevation14 m1,753 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiJohannesburg
City population1,570,0004,803,262
People per km²1,6152,922
Museums within 10 km314
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 Johannesburg 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.