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 Riva in front of Diocletian's Palace, Split
SplitThe Riva in front of Diocletian's Palace

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Split by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Abu Dhabi or Split?

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
  • shopping
  • wellness

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

Choose Split for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Split’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, Split 75: Abu Dhabi leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Split 57: Split leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Split 66: Split leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Split 52: Split leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Split 77: Split leads by 49 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Split 78: Split leads by 33 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Split 54: Abu Dhabi leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Split 67: Split leads by 43 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Split 32: Abu Dhabi leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Split 45: Split leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Split 37: Split leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Split 40: Abu Dhabi leads by 6 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Abu Dhabi and Split.

Your match

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

Abu Dhabi
48match

Wins on families and shopping with your weighting.

Split
Best match
57match

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

Split in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
25 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiSplit

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). Split: 1991-2020 normals, Split / Marjan (0.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiSplit
Official languageArabicCroatian
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation14 m0 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsSplit Saint Jerome Airport (SPU)12 km from centre69 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiSplit
City population1,570,000160,577
People per km²1,615-
Museums within 10 km311
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km04
Swim season, months above 21 °C11 months4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Abu Dhabi or Split 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.