VacationSelector
The Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla, AlUla
AlUlaThe Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla
Rocks and beach in Tangolunda Bay, Huatulco
HuatulcoRocks and beach in Tangolunda Bay

Photos: AlUla by Richard.hargas, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Huatulco by Gzzz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

AlUla or Huatulco?

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
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Huatulco for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Huatulco’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, Huatulco 86: Huatulco leads by 83 points.
Food & drink. AlUla 28, Huatulco 44: Huatulco leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. AlUla 70, Huatulco 15: AlUla leads by 55 points.
Nightlife. AlUla 5, Huatulco 24: Huatulco leads by 19 points.
Nature & outdoors. AlUla 72, Huatulco 76: Huatulco leads by 4 points.
Day trips. AlUla 20, Huatulco 40: Huatulco leads by 20 points.
Good for families. AlUla 35, Huatulco 56: Huatulco leads by 21 points.
Getting around. AlUla 15, Huatulco 33: Huatulco leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. AlUla 15, Huatulco 20: Huatulco leads by 5 points.
Affordability. AlUla 18, Huatulco 62: Huatulco leads by 44 points.
Live music & performing arts. AlUla 28, Huatulco 9: AlUla leads by 19 points.
Wellness & relaxation. AlUla 45, Huatulco 52: Huatulco leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: AlUla and Huatulco.

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 live music and the arts with your weighting.

Huatulco
Best match
43match

Wins on beaches 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
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Huatulco in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
156 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
AlUlaHuatulco

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.

Huatulco's temperatures are measured 42 km from the centre, at Puerto Angel, Oax..

Huatulco's station stands 177 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Huatulco 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). Huatulco: 1991-2020 normals, Puerto Angel, Oax. (42.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlUlaHuatulco
Official languageArabicSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencySaudi Riyal (SAR)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsG60 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC-6
Emergency number112 or 911911
Elevation692 m220 m
Main airportAl-Ula International Airport (ULH)24 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsBahías de Huatulco International Airport (HUX)15 km from centre13 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-9 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlUlaHuatulco
City population32,4137,409
Museums within 10 km20
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow AlUla or Huatulco 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.