VacationSelector
The Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla, AlUla
AlUlaThe Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla
The Anshun Bridge over the Jin River, Chengdu
ChengduThe Anshun Bridge over the Jin River

Photos: AlUla by Richard.hargas, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Chengdu by TurnOnTheNight, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

AlUla or Chengdu?

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

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

Choose Chengdu for

  • nightlife
  • prices
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Chengdu’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, Chengdu 5: Chengdu leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. AlUla 28, Chengdu 86: Chengdu leads by 58 points.
Culture & sights. AlUla 70, Chengdu 60: AlUla leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. AlUla 5, Chengdu 68: Chengdu leads by 63 points.
Nature & outdoors. AlUla 72, Chengdu 68: AlUla leads by 4 points.
Day trips. AlUla 20, Chengdu 80: Chengdu leads by 60 points.
Good for families. AlUla 35, Chengdu 65: Chengdu leads by 30 points.
Getting around. AlUla 15, Chengdu 74: Chengdu leads by 59 points.
Shopping & style. AlUla 15, Chengdu 64: Chengdu leads by 49 points.
Affordability. AlUla 18, Chengdu 80: Chengdu leads by 62 points.
Live music & performing arts. AlUla 28, Chengdu 50: Chengdu leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. AlUla 45, Chengdu 58: Chengdu leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: AlUla and Chengdu.

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.

Chengdu
Best match
63match

Wins on nightlife and prices 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

Chengdu in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
177 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AlUlaChengdu

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). Chengdu: 1991-2020 normals, Chengdu (4.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlUlaChengdu
Official languageArabicPutonghua
CurrencySaudi Riyal (SAR)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsG60 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+8
Emergency number112 or 911Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation692 m500 m
Main airportAl-Ula International Airport (ULH)24 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsChengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU)16 km from centre77 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-6 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlUlaChengdu
City population32,41320,937,757
People per km²-1,456
Museums within 10 km210
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10

Where else could you go?

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