VacationSelector
The domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi
Abu DhabiThe domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
Rowing boats below the ghats in the morning light, Varanasi
VaranasiRowing boats below the ghats in the morning light

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Varanasi by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Abu Dhabi or Varanasi?

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
  • beaches
  • nightlife

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

Choose Varanasi for

  • prices
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Varanasi’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, Varanasi 4: Abu Dhabi leads by 74 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi and Varanasi are level on 55.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Varanasi 80: Varanasi leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Varanasi 10: Abu Dhabi leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Varanasi 18: Abu Dhabi leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Varanasi 42: Abu Dhabi leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Varanasi 5: Abu Dhabi leads by 77 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Varanasi 28: Varanasi leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Varanasi 55: Varanasi leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Varanasi 92: Varanasi leads by 54 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Varanasi 58: Varanasi leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Varanasi 30: Abu Dhabi leads by 16 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Abu Dhabi
Best match
48match

Wins on families and beaches with your weighting.

Varanasi
40match

Wins on prices and live music and the arts 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

Varanasi in July

35 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
249 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiVaranasi

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.

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

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiVaranasi
Official languageArabicHindi, English
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Indian Rupee (INR)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+5:30
Emergency number112108 or 112
Elevation14 m76 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsLal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS)21 km from centre16 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiVaranasi
City population1,570,0001,198,491
People per km²1,61514,598
Museums within 10 km32
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Varanasi 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. 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.