VacationSelector
The Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla, AlUla
AlUlaThe Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla
Big Ben and Westminster Bridge, London
LondonBig Ben and Westminster Bridge

Photos: AlUla by Richard.hargas, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; London by AXP Photography, Pexels License.

AlUla or London?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • prices

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

Choose London for

  • nightlife
  • shopping
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on London’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, London 25: London leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. AlUla 28, London 84: London leads by 56 points.
Culture & sights. AlUla 70, London 94: London leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. AlUla 5, London 88: London leads by 83 points.
Nature & outdoors. AlUla 72, London 57: AlUla leads by 15 points.
Day trips. AlUla 20, London 90: London leads by 70 points.
Good for families. AlUla 35, London 82: London leads by 47 points.
Getting around. AlUla 15, London 85: London leads by 70 points.
Shopping & style. AlUla 15, London 95: London leads by 80 points.
Affordability. AlUla 18, London 15: AlUla leads by 3 points.
Live music & performing arts. AlUla 28, London 98: London leads by 70 points.
Wellness & relaxation. AlUla 45, London 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 London.

Your match

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

AlUla
30match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and wellness with your weighting.

London
Best match
71match

Wins on nightlife and shopping 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
14 hdaylight a day

London in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
AlUlaLondon

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). London: 1992-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, London Weather Centre (1.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlUlaLondon
Official languageArabicEnglish
CurrencySaudi Riyal (SAR)Pound Sterling (GBP)
SocketsG60 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+3UTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112 or 911112 or 999
Elevation692 m4 m
Main airportAl-Ula International Airport (ULH)24 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsLondon Heathrow Airport (LHR)23 km from centre224 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-8 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlUlaLondon
City population32,4138,799,728
People per km²-5,598
Museums within 10 km2216
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km14

Where else could you go?

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