VacationSelector
The domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi
Abu DhabiThe domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
Portofino and its bay from the hillside, Portofino
PortofinoPortofino and its bay from the hillside

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Portofino by Michal Osmenda, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Abu Dhabi or Portofino?

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 Portofino for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Portofino’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, Portofino 60: Abu Dhabi leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Portofino 36: Abu Dhabi leads by 19 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Portofino 22: Abu Dhabi leads by 42 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Portofino 14: Abu Dhabi leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Portofino 77: Portofino leads by 49 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Portofino 76: Portofino leads by 31 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Portofino 33: Abu Dhabi leads by 49 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Portofino 50: Portofino leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Portofino 29: Abu Dhabi leads by 21 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Portofino 9: Abu Dhabi leads by 29 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Portofino 7: Abu Dhabi leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Portofino 42: Abu Dhabi leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Abu Dhabi and Portofino.

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.

Portofino
38match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and day trips 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

Portofino in July

27 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
32 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiPortofino

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.

Portofino's temperatures are measured 31 km from the centre, at Genova / Sestri.

Portofino 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). Portofino: 1991-2020 normals, Genova / Sestri (31 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiPortofino
Official languageArabicItalian
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation14 m20 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsGenoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport (GOA)32 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiPortofino
City population1,570,000355
People per km²1,615142
Museums within 10 km314
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
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 Portofino 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.