VacationSelector
The Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla, AlUla
AlUlaThe Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park

Photos: AlUla by Richard.hargas, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License.

AlUla or Chicago?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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

Choose Chicago for

  • nightlife
  • getting around
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Chicago’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, Chicago 50: Chicago leads by 47 points.
Food & drink. AlUla 28, Chicago 80: Chicago leads by 52 points.
Culture & sights. AlUla 70, Chicago 78: Chicago leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. AlUla 5, Chicago 77: Chicago leads by 72 points.
Nature & outdoors. AlUla 72, Chicago 48: AlUla leads by 24 points.
Day trips. AlUla 20, Chicago 42: Chicago leads by 22 points.
Good for families. AlUla 35, Chicago 78: Chicago leads by 43 points.
Getting around. AlUla 15, Chicago 72: Chicago leads by 57 points.
Shopping & style. AlUla 15, Chicago 70: Chicago leads by 55 points.
Affordability. AlUla 18, Chicago 33: Chicago leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. AlUla 28, Chicago 82: Chicago leads by 54 points.
Wellness & relaxation. AlUla 45, Chicago 33: AlUla leads by 12 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: AlUla and Chicago.

Your match

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

AlUla
30match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and wellness with your weighting.

Chicago
Best match
62match

Wins on nightlife and getting around 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 seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Chicago in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
102 mmrain in the month
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AlUlaChicago

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). Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlUlaChicago
Official languageArabic-
CurrencySaudi Riyal (SAR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsG60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency number112 or 911911
Elevation692 m179 m
Main airportAl-Ula International Airport (ULH)24 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlUlaChicago
City population32,4132,746,388
People per km²-4,529
Museums within 10 km244
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C-1 month

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow AlUla or Chicago 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. 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.