VacationSelector
The Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla, AlUla
AlUlaThe Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla
A jetty on the lagoon, Faro
FaroA jetty on the lagoon

Photos: AlUla by Richard.hargas, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Faro by Efrem Efre, Pexels License.

AlUla or Faro?

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
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Faro for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Faro’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, Faro 74: Faro leads by 71 points.
Food & drink. AlUla 28, Faro 48: Faro leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. AlUla 70, Faro 35: AlUla leads by 35 points.
Nightlife. AlUla 5, Faro 32: Faro leads by 27 points.
Nature & outdoors. AlUla 72, Faro 62: AlUla leads by 10 points.
Day trips. AlUla 20, Faro 64: Faro leads by 44 points.
Good for families. AlUla 35, Faro 60: Faro leads by 25 points.
Getting around. AlUla 15, Faro 60: Faro leads by 45 points.
Shopping & style. AlUla 15, Faro 35: Faro leads by 20 points.
Affordability. AlUla 18, Faro 60: Faro leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. AlUla 28, Faro 30: Faro leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. AlUla 45, Faro 33: AlUla leads by 12 points.
0255075100

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

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 wellness with your weighting.

Faro
Best match
49match

Wins on beaches 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 recordsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Faro in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AlUlaFaro

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). Faro: 1991-2020 normals, Faro / Aeroporto (2.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlUlaFaro
Official languageArabicPortuguese
CurrencySaudi Riyal (SAR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsG60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112 or 911112
Elevation692 m10 m
Main airportAl-Ula International Airport (ULH)24 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsFaro - Gago Coutinho International Airport (FAO)3 km from centre91 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlUlaFaro
City population32,41364,560
People per km²-319
Museums within 10 km22
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 Faro 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.