VacationSelector
The domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi
Abu DhabiThe domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
Rathausquai on the Reuss, Lucerne
LucerneRathausquai on the Reuss

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Lucerne by ILOVESwitzerland, Pexels License.

Abu Dhabi or Lucerne?

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
  • food and drink

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

Choose Lucerne for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Lucerne’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, Lucerne 35: Abu Dhabi leads by 43 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Lucerne 35: Abu Dhabi leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Lucerne 58: Abu Dhabi leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Lucerne 28: Abu Dhabi leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Lucerne 92: Lucerne leads by 64 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Lucerne 78: Lucerne leads by 33 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Lucerne 66: Abu Dhabi leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Lucerne 86: Lucerne leads by 62 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Lucerne 46: Abu Dhabi leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Lucerne 8: Abu Dhabi leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Lucerne 66: Lucerne leads by 34 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi and Lucerne 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 Lucerne.

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.

Lucerne
Best match
54match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around 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

Lucerne in July

24 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
141 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiLucerne

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.

Lucerne 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.

Lucerne's sunshine is measured 42 km from the centre, at Zurich Town / Ville..

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). Lucerne: 2005-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Emmen (4.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiLucerne
Official languageArabicFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation14 m436 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)49 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-12 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiLucerne
City population1,570,00086,234
People per km²1,6152,963
Museums within 10 km314
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Lucerne 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.