VacationSelector
The domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi
Abu DhabiThe domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
Painted wooden houses under palms in Key West, Key West
Key WestPainted wooden houses under palms in Key West

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Key West by Dominik Gryzbon, Pexels License.

Abu Dhabi or Key West?

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

  • families
  • culture and sights
  • prices

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

Choose Key West for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Key West’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, Key West 60: Abu Dhabi leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Key West 45: Abu Dhabi leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Key West 40: Abu Dhabi leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Key West 62: Key West leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Key West 62: Key West leads by 34 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Key West 28: Abu Dhabi leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Key West 40: Abu Dhabi leads by 42 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Key West 62: Key West leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Key West 30: Abu Dhabi leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Key West 15: Abu Dhabi leads by 23 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Key West 38: Key West leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Key West 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 Key West.

Your match

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

Abu Dhabi
Best match
48match

Wins on families and culture and sights with your weighting.

Key West
44match

Wins on getting around and nature and the outdoors 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

Key West in July

32 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
84 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiKey West

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.

Key West's temperatures are measured 69 km from the centre, at Key West Airport.

Key West 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). Key West: 1991-2020 normals, Key West Airport (69.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiKey West
Official languageArabic-
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation14 m4 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsKey West International Airport (EYW)2 km from centre24 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiKey West
City population1,570,00026,444
People per km²1,6151,407
Museums within 10 km37
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 Key West 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.