VacationSelector
The Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla, AlUla
AlUlaThe Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla
The cathedral from the Torre Tavira, Cadiz
CadizThe cathedral from the Torre Tavira

Photos: AlUla by Richard.hargas, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Cadiz by Bronch, CC BY-SA 3.0 ES, cropped.

AlUla or Cadiz?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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

Choose Cadiz for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Cadiz’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, Cadiz 80: Cadiz leads by 77 points.
Food & drink. AlUla 28, Cadiz 68: Cadiz leads by 40 points.
Culture & sights. AlUla 70, Cadiz 62: AlUla leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. AlUla 5, Cadiz 45: Cadiz leads by 40 points.
Nature & outdoors. AlUla 72, Cadiz 66: AlUla leads by 6 points.
Day trips. AlUla 20, Cadiz 80: Cadiz leads by 60 points.
Good for families. AlUla 35, Cadiz 60: Cadiz leads by 25 points.
Getting around. AlUla 15, Cadiz 70: Cadiz leads by 55 points.
Shopping & style. AlUla 15, Cadiz 35: Cadiz leads by 20 points.
Affordability. AlUla 18, Cadiz 58: Cadiz leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. AlUla 28, Cadiz 52: Cadiz leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. AlUla 45, Cadiz 42: AlUla leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: AlUla and Cadiz.

Your match

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

AlUla
30match

Wins on culture and sights and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Cadiz
Best match
60match

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
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Cadiz in July

28 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
23 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
AlUlaCadiz

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.

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). Cadiz: 1991-2020 normals, Cadiz Bay / Puntales (5.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlUlaCadiz
Official languageArabicSpanish
CurrencySaudi Riyal (SAR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsG60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112 or 911112
Elevation692 m11 m
Main airportAl-Ula International Airport (ULH)24 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsJerez Airport (XRY)31 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-12 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlUlaCadiz
City population32,413109,950
People per km²-9,087
Museums within 10 km211
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow AlUla or Cadiz 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.