VacationSelector
The domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi
Abu DhabiThe domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
Palacio Salvo under a blue sky, Montevideo
MontevideoPalacio Salvo under a blue sky

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Montevideo by Andrés Franchi Ugart…, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Abu Dhabi or Montevideo?

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
  • shopping

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

Choose Montevideo for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Montevideo’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, Montevideo 55: Abu Dhabi leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Montevideo 57: Montevideo leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Montevideo 54: Abu Dhabi leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Montevideo 50: Montevideo leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Montevideo 34: Montevideo leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Montevideo 55: Montevideo leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Montevideo 55: Abu Dhabi leads by 27 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Montevideo 54: Montevideo leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Montevideo 36: Abu Dhabi leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Montevideo 42: Montevideo leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Montevideo 57: Montevideo leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Montevideo 38: Abu Dhabi leads by 8 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Abu Dhabi and Montevideo.

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 families and beaches with your weighting.

Montevideo
49match

Wins on getting around 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

Montevideo in July

15 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
99 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
11 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiMontevideo

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). Montevideo: 1991-2020 normals, Carrasco (19.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiMontevideo
Official languageArabic-
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Peso Uruguayo (UYU)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzCFIL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC-3
Emergency number112911
Elevation14 m41 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsCarrasco General Cesáreo L. Berisso International Airport (MVD)17 km from centre15 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-15 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiMontevideo
City population1,570,0001,302,954
People per km²1,6151,785
Museums within 10 km336
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C11 months4 months

Where else could you go?

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