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 fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Abu Dhabi or Lima?

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
  • beaches
  • wellness

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

Choose Lima for

  • food and drink
  • prices
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Lima’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, Lima 42: Abu Dhabi leads by 36 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Lima 88: Lima leads by 33 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Lima 66: Lima leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Lima 62: Lima leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Lima 45: Lima leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Lima 34: Abu Dhabi leads by 11 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Lima 42: Abu Dhabi leads by 40 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Lima 35: Lima leads by 11 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Lima 52: Lima leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Lima 70: Lima leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Lima 53: Lima leads by 21 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Lima 25: Abu Dhabi leads by 21 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Abu Dhabi and Lima.

Your match

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

Abu Dhabi
48match

Wins on families and beaches with your weighting.

Lima
Best match
51match

Wins on food and drink 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

Lima in July

19 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
1 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

051015JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiLima

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). Lima: 1991-2020 normals, Lima-Callao / Aerop. Internacional Jorgechavez (10.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiLima
Official languageArabicSpanish, Aymara, Quechua
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Sol (PEN)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC-5
Emergency number112111 or 911
Elevation14 m154 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-16 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiLima
City population1,570,0009,943,800
People per km²1,6153,721
Museums within 10 km347
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C11 months2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Abu Dhabi or Lima 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). Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.