VacationSelector
The domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi
Abu DhabiThe domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
Palms on a white beach at Cap Cana, Punta Cana
Punta CanaPalms on a white beach at Cap Cana

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Punta Cana by Mary Mark Ockerbloom, CC0.

Abu Dhabi or Punta Cana?

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
  • food and drink
  • shopping

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

Choose Punta Cana for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Punta Cana’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, Punta Cana 94: Punta Cana leads by 16 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Punta Cana 30: Abu Dhabi leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Punta Cana 8: Abu Dhabi leads by 56 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Punta Cana 40: Punta Cana leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Punta Cana 52: Punta Cana leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Punta Cana 35: Abu Dhabi leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Punta Cana 68: Abu Dhabi leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Punta Cana 15: Abu Dhabi leads by 9 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Punta Cana 30: Abu Dhabi leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Punta Cana 44: Punta Cana leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Punta Cana 15: Abu Dhabi leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Punta Cana 52: Punta Cana 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 Punta Cana.

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 food and drink with your weighting.

Punta Cana
40match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches 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

Punta Cana in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
96 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

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiPunta Cana

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.

Punta Cana 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). Punta Cana: 1993-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Punta Cana (0.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiPunta Cana
Official languageArabicSpanish
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Dominican Peso (DOP)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC-4
Emergency number112911
Elevation14 m28 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsPunta Cana International Airport (PUJ)1 km from centre93 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiPunta Cana
City population1,570,000138,919
People per km²1,615292
Museums within 10 km30
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 Punta Cana 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.