VacationSelector
The domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi
Abu DhabiThe domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
Sugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay, Rio de Janeiro
Rio de JaneiroSugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Rio de Janeiro by Arne Müseler, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, cropped.

Abu Dhabi or Rio de Janeiro?

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
  • wellness

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

Choose Rio de Janeiro for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Rio de Janeiro’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, Rio de Janeiro 92: Rio de Janeiro leads by 14 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Rio de Janeiro 62: Rio de Janeiro leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Rio de Janeiro 68: Rio de Janeiro leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Rio de Janeiro 80: Rio de Janeiro leads by 46 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Rio de Janeiro 90: Rio de Janeiro leads by 62 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Rio de Janeiro 50: Rio de Janeiro leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Rio de Janeiro 50: Abu Dhabi leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Rio de Janeiro 44: Rio de Janeiro leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi and Rio de Janeiro are level on 50.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Rio de Janeiro 60: Rio de Janeiro leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Rio de Janeiro 66: Rio de Janeiro leads by 34 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Rio de Janeiro 30: Abu Dhabi leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Abu Dhabi and Rio de Janeiro.

Your match

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

Abu Dhabi
48match

Wins on families and wellness with your weighting.

Rio de Janeiro
Best match
62match

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

Rio de Janeiro in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
45 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
22 °Csea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiRio de Janeiro

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.

Rio de Janeiro 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). Rio de Janeiro: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiRio de Janeiro
Official languageArabicPortuguese
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC-3
Emergency number112Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation14 m31 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsRio de Janeiro Galeão – Tom Jobim International Airport (GIG)12 km from centre54 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiRio de Janeiro
City population1,570,0006,211,223
People per km²1,6154,930
Museums within 10 km369
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km03
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 Rio de Janeiro 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.