VacationSelector
The Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla, AlUla
AlUlaThe Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla
Painted wooden houses under palms in Key West, Key West
Key WestPainted wooden houses under palms in Key West

Photos: AlUla by Richard.hargas, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Key West by Dominik Gryzbon, Pexels License.

AlUla or Key West?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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

Choose Key West for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Key West’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, Key West 60: Key West leads by 57 points.
Food & drink. AlUla 28, Key West 45: Key West leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. AlUla 70, Key West 40: AlUla leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. AlUla 5, Key West 62: Key West leads by 57 points.
Nature & outdoors. AlUla 72, Key West 62: AlUla leads by 10 points.
Day trips. AlUla 20, Key West 28: Key West leads by 8 points.
Good for families. AlUla 35, Key West 40: Key West leads by 5 points.
Getting around. AlUla 15, Key West 62: Key West leads by 47 points.
Shopping & style. AlUla 15, Key West 30: Key West leads by 15 points.
Affordability. AlUla 18, Key West 15: AlUla leads by 3 points.
Live music & performing arts. AlUla 28, Key West 38: Key West leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. AlUla 45, Key West 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 Key West.

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 nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Key West
Best match
44match

Wins on beaches and nightlife 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

Key West in July

32 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
84 mmrain in the month
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AlUlaKey West

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.

Key West's temperatures are measured 69 km from the centre, at Key West Airport.

Key West 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). Key West: 1991-2020 normals, Key West Airport (69.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlUlaKey West
Official languageArabic-
CurrencySaudi Riyal (SAR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsG60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112 or 911911
Elevation692 m4 m
Main airportAl-Ula International Airport (ULH)24 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsKey West International Airport (EYW)2 km from centre24 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlUlaKey West
City population32,41326,444
People per km²-1,407
Museums within 10 km27
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 Key West 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.