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 Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Abu Dhabi or Los Angeles?

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
  • prices

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

Choose Los Angeles for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Los Angeles’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, Los Angeles 60: Abu Dhabi leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Los Angeles 84: Los Angeles leads by 29 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Los Angeles 66: Los Angeles leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Los Angeles 67: Los Angeles leads by 33 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Los Angeles 80: Los Angeles leads by 52 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Los Angeles 60: Los Angeles leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Los Angeles 84: Los Angeles leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Los Angeles 25: Los Angeles leads by 1 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Los Angeles 80: Los Angeles leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Los Angeles 24: Abu Dhabi leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Los Angeles 83: Los Angeles leads by 51 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Los Angeles 60: Los Angeles leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Abu Dhabi and Los Angeles.

Your match

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

Abu Dhabi
48match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Los Angeles
Best match
64match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and live music and the arts 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

Los Angeles in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiLos Angeles

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). Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiLos Angeles
Official languageArabic-
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation14 m106 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiLos Angeles
City population1,570,0003,898,747
People per km²1,6152,994
Museums within 10 km339
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C11 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

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