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 church of San Francisco under a blue sky, Quito
QuitoThe church of San Francisco under a blue sky

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Quito by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Abu Dhabi or Quito?

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

  • beaches
  • families
  • shopping

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

Choose Quito for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Quito’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, Quito 5: Abu Dhabi leads by 73 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Quito 54: Abu Dhabi leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Quito 77: Quito leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Quito 40: Quito leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Quito 86: Quito leads by 58 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Quito 55: Quito leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Quito 32: Abu Dhabi leads by 50 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Quito 45: Quito leads by 21 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Quito 40: Abu Dhabi leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Quito 78: Quito leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Quito 38: Quito leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Quito 44: Abu Dhabi leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Abu Dhabi and Quito.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Abu Dhabi
48match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Quito
50match

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

Quito in July

18 °Cdaytime high
5 °Cnight-time low
32 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiQuito

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.

Quito's station stands 208 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

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). Quito: 1961-1990 normals, Izobamba-Santa Catalina (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiQuito
Official languageArabicSpanish, Shuar, Northern Quichua
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC-5
Emergency number112911
Elevation14 m2,850 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsMariscal Sucre International Airport (UIO)20 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiQuito
City population1,570,0001,763,275
People per km²1,6154,735
Museums within 10 km316
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C11 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Abu Dhabi or Quito 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). 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.