VacationSelector
The domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi
Abu DhabiThe domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
Stortorget in Gamla stan, Stockholm
StockholmStortorget in Gamla stan

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Stockholm by Jorge Franganillo, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Abu Dhabi or Stockholm?

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
  • prices

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

Choose Stockholm for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Stockholm’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, Stockholm 40: Abu Dhabi leads by 38 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Stockholm 64: Stockholm leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Stockholm 77: Stockholm leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Stockholm 57: Stockholm leads by 23 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Stockholm 72: Stockholm leads by 44 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Stockholm 68: Stockholm leads by 23 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi and Stockholm are level on 82.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Stockholm 84: Stockholm leads by 60 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Stockholm 70: Stockholm leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Stockholm 30: Abu Dhabi leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Stockholm 65: Stockholm leads by 33 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Stockholm 56: Stockholm leads by 10 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Abu Dhabi
48match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Stockholm
Best match
64match

Wins on getting around 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

Stockholm in July

23 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
65 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
18 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiStockholm

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.

Stockholm 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.

Stockholm's sunshine is measured 26 km from the centre, at Stockholm Observatoriet.

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). Stockholm: 2003-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Stockholm Bromma Airport (7.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiStockholm
Official languageArabicSwedish
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Swedish Krona (SEK)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation14 m22 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsStockholm-Arlanda Airport (ARN)36 km from centre174 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-16 days

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiStockholm
City population1,570,000984,748
People per km²1,6155,260
Museums within 10 km3266
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km03
Swim season, months above 21 °C11 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Abu Dhabi or Stockholm 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.