VacationSelector
The Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla, AlUla
AlUlaThe Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla
The Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake, Guilin
GuilinThe Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake

Photos: AlUla by Richard.hargas, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Guilin by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

AlUla or Guilin?

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

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

Choose Guilin for

  • prices
  • day trips
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Guilin’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, Guilin 8: Guilin leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. AlUla 28, Guilin 45: Guilin leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. AlUla 70, Guilin 40: AlUla leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. AlUla 5, Guilin 30: Guilin leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. AlUla 72, Guilin 88: Guilin leads by 16 points.
Day trips. AlUla 20, Guilin 56: Guilin leads by 36 points.
Good for families. AlUla 35, Guilin 45: Guilin leads by 10 points.
Getting around. AlUla 15, Guilin 45: Guilin leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. AlUla 15, Guilin 28: Guilin leads by 13 points.
Affordability. AlUla 18, Guilin 78: Guilin leads by 60 points.
Live music & performing arts. AlUla 28, Guilin 30: Guilin leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. AlUla 45, Guilin 40: AlUla leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: AlUla and Guilin.

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.

Guilin
Best match
44match

Wins on prices 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
14 hdaylight a day

Guilin in July

33 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
248 mmrain in the month
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
AlUlaGuilin

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). Guilin: 1991-2020 normals, Guilin (7.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlUlaGuilin
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 m153 m
Main airportAl-Ula International Airport (ULH)24 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsGuilin Liangjiang International Airport (KWL)25 km from centre43 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-6 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlUlaGuilin
City population32,4134,931,137
Museums within 10 km21
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11

Where else could you go?

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