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 terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía, Santiago
SantiagoThe terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Santiago by Rjcastillo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Abu Dhabi or Santiago?

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
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Santiago for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Santiago’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, Santiago 12: Abu Dhabi leads by 66 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Santiago 60: Santiago leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Santiago 52: Abu Dhabi leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Santiago 60: Santiago leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Santiago 83: Santiago leads by 55 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Santiago 70: Santiago leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Santiago 57: Abu Dhabi leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Santiago 68: Santiago leads by 44 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Santiago 52: Santiago leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Santiago 58: Santiago leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Santiago 55: Santiago leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Santiago 37: Abu Dhabi leads by 9 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Abu Dhabi and Santiago.

Your match

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

Abu Dhabi
48match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Santiago
Best match
55match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around 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

Santiago in July

14 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
52 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiSantiago

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.

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). Santiago: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago Q. Normal (3.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiSantiago
Official languageArabicSpanish
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Chilean Peso (CLP)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzCL220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency number112Police 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132
Elevation14 m575 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)14 km from centre67 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-16 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiSantiago
City population1,570,0006,257,516
People per km²1,6157,468
Museums within 10 km354
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Santiago 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.