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 Fortaleza San Felipe, Puerto Plata
Puerto PlataThe Fortaleza San Felipe

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Puerto Plata by CareAhLine, CC0.

Abu Dhabi or Puerto Plata?

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

  • culture and sights
  • families
  • shopping

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

Choose Puerto Plata for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Puerto Plata’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, Puerto Plata 80: Puerto Plata leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Puerto Plata 40: Abu Dhabi leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Puerto Plata 35: Abu Dhabi leads by 29 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Puerto Plata 38: Puerto Plata leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Puerto Plata 68: Puerto Plata leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Puerto Plata 48: Puerto Plata leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Puerto Plata 57: Abu Dhabi leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Puerto Plata 30: Puerto Plata leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Puerto Plata 30: Abu Dhabi leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Puerto Plata 64: Puerto Plata leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Puerto Plata 18: Abu Dhabi leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Puerto Plata 35: Abu Dhabi leads by 11 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Abu Dhabi and Puerto Plata.

Your match

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

Abu Dhabi
Best match
48match

Wins on culture and sights and families with your weighting.

Puerto Plata
45match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Puerto Plata in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
67 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiPuerto Plata

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.

Puerto Plata 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). Puerto Plata: 1993-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Puerto Plata (15.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiPuerto Plata
Official languageArabicSpanish
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Dominican Peso (DOP)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC-4
Emergency number112911
Elevation14 m34 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsGregorio Luperon International Airport (POP)13 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiPuerto Plata
City population1,570,000-
People per km²1,615-
Museums within 10 km31
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C11 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Abu Dhabi or Puerto Plata 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.