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 cathedral facade, Siena
SienaThe cathedral facade

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Siena by Raimond Spekking, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Abu Dhabi or Siena?

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 Siena for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Siena’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, Siena 14: Abu Dhabi leads by 64 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Siena 62: Siena leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Siena 78: Siena leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Siena 27: Abu Dhabi leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Siena 65: Siena leads by 37 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Siena 94: Siena leads by 49 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Siena 38: Abu Dhabi leads by 44 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Siena 60: Siena leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Siena 35: Abu Dhabi leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Siena 42: Siena leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Siena 36: Siena leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Siena 55: Siena 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 Siena.

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.

Siena
Best match
51match

Wins on day trips and nature and the outdoors 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

Siena in July

31 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiSiena

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.

Siena's temperatures are measured 45 km from the centre, at Arezzo.

Siena 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). Siena: 2006-2017 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Arezzo (45 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiSiena
Official languageArabicItalian
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation14 m322 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsFlorence Airport, Peretola (FLR)55 km from centre46 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiSiena
City population1,570,00052,812
People per km²1,615446
Museums within 10 km330
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km05
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 Siena 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.