VacationSelector
The Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla, AlUla
AlUlaThe Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla
The Campanile, Trinity College, Dublin
DublinThe Campanile, Trinity College

Photos: AlUla by Richard.hargas, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Dublin by David Kernan, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

AlUla or Dublin?

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

  • wellness
  • culture and sights
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Dublin for

  • nightlife
  • day trips
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Dublin’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, Dublin 27: Dublin leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. AlUla 28, Dublin 50: Dublin leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. AlUla 70, Dublin 64: AlUla leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. AlUla 5, Dublin 62: Dublin leads by 57 points.
Nature & outdoors. AlUla 72, Dublin 70: AlUla leads by 2 points.
Day trips. AlUla 20, Dublin 72: Dublin leads by 52 points.
Good for families. AlUla 35, Dublin 57: Dublin leads by 22 points.
Getting around. AlUla 15, Dublin 66: Dublin leads by 51 points.
Shopping & style. AlUla 15, Dublin 54: Dublin leads by 39 points.
Affordability. AlUla 18, Dublin 20: Dublin leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. AlUla 28, Dublin 65: Dublin leads by 37 points.
Wellness & relaxation. AlUla 45, Dublin 25: AlUla leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: AlUla and Dublin.

Your match

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

AlUla
30match

Wins on wellness and culture and sights with your weighting.

Dublin
Best match
53match

Wins on nightlife 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

Dublin in July

20 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
62 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
15 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
AlUlaDublin

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). Dublin: 1991-2020 normals, Dublin Airport (9.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlUlaDublin
Official languageArabicEnglish, Irish
CurrencySaudi Riyal (SAR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsG60 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+3UTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112 or 911112
Elevation692 m20 m
Main airportAl-Ula International Airport (ULH)24 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsDublin Airport (DUB)9 km from centre200 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlUlaDublin
City population32,413592,713
People per km²-5,154
Museums within 10 km240
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

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