VacationSelector
The domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi
Abu DhabiThe domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
Playa de los Muertos below the green hills, Puerto Vallarta
Puerto VallartaPlaya de los Muertos below the green hills

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Puerto Vallarta by RL0919, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Abu Dhabi or Puerto Vallarta?

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 Vallarta for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Puerto Vallarta’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 Vallarta 85: Puerto Vallarta leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Puerto Vallarta 62: Puerto Vallarta leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Puerto Vallarta 28: Abu Dhabi leads by 36 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Puerto Vallarta 66: Puerto Vallarta leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Puerto Vallarta 76: Puerto Vallarta leads by 48 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Puerto Vallarta 55: Puerto Vallarta leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Puerto Vallarta 65: Abu Dhabi leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Puerto Vallarta 45: Puerto Vallarta leads by 21 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Puerto Vallarta 42: Abu Dhabi leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Puerto Vallarta 60: Puerto Vallarta leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi and Puerto Vallarta are level on 32.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Puerto Vallarta 52: Puerto Vallarta leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Abu Dhabi and Puerto Vallarta.

Your match

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

Abu Dhabi
48match

Wins on culture and sights and families with your weighting.

Puerto Vallarta
Best match
56match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and nightlife 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 Vallarta in July

34 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
209 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiPuerto Vallarta

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 Vallarta has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

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 Vallarta: 1991-2020 normals, TerraClimate 4 km grid at the town, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiPuerto Vallarta
Official languageArabicSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC-6
Emergency number112911
Elevation14 m101 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsPuerto Vallarta International Airport (PVR)5 km from centre52 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-9 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiPuerto Vallarta
City population1,570,000224,166
People per km²1,6154,311
Museums within 10 km32
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Vallarta 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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.