VacationSelector
The Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla, AlUla
AlUlaThe Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla
The Thiou canal with the castle behind, Annecy
AnnecyThe Thiou canal with the castle behind

Photos: AlUla by Richard.hargas, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Annecy by Dmitry A. Mottl, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

AlUla or Annecy?

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 AlUla for

  • culture and sights

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

Choose Annecy for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Annecy’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. AlUla 3, Annecy 55: Annecy leads by 52 points.
Food & drink. AlUla 28, Annecy 50: Annecy leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. AlUla 70, Annecy 38: AlUla leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. AlUla 5, Annecy 25: Annecy leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. AlUla 72, Annecy 92: Annecy leads by 20 points.
Day trips. AlUla 20, Annecy 70: Annecy leads by 50 points.
Good for families. AlUla 35, Annecy 60: Annecy leads by 25 points.
Getting around. AlUla 15, Annecy 62: Annecy leads by 47 points.
Shopping & style. AlUla 15, Annecy 35: Annecy leads by 20 points.
Affordability. AlUla 18, Annecy 35: Annecy leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. AlUla 28, Annecy 33: Annecy leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. AlUla 45, Annecy 48: Annecy leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: AlUla and Annecy.

Your match

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

AlUla
30match

Wins on culture and sights with your weighting.

Annecy
Best match
50match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

AlUla in July

43 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Annecy in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
AlUlaAnnecy

Where the figures come from

AlUla 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.

Annecy 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.

Annecy's sunshine is measured 39 km from the centre, at Geneve-Cointrin.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. AlUla: 2010-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Alula / Al ‘Ulá (23.7 km from centre). Annecy: 2007-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Annecy / Metz-Tessy (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlUlaAnnecy
Official languageArabicFrench
CurrencySaudi Riyal (SAR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsG60 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112 or 911112
Elevation692 m418 m
Main airportAl-Ula International Airport (ULH)24 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsGeneva International Airport (GVA)38 km from centre150 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlUlaAnnecy
City population32,413132,117
People per km²-1,975
Museums within 10 km21
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow AlUla or Annecy 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.