VacationSelector
The Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla, AlUla
AlUlaThe Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla
Rathausquai on the Reuss, Lucerne
LucerneRathausquai on the Reuss

Photos: AlUla by Richard.hargas, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Lucerne by ILOVESwitzerland, Pexels License.

AlUla or Lucerne?

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
  • prices

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

Choose Lucerne for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Lucerne’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, Lucerne 35: Lucerne leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. AlUla 28, Lucerne 35: Lucerne leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. AlUla 70, Lucerne 58: AlUla leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. AlUla 5, Lucerne 28: Lucerne leads by 23 points.
Nature & outdoors. AlUla 72, Lucerne 92: Lucerne leads by 20 points.
Day trips. AlUla 20, Lucerne 78: Lucerne leads by 58 points.
Good for families. AlUla 35, Lucerne 66: Lucerne leads by 31 points.
Getting around. AlUla 15, Lucerne 86: Lucerne leads by 71 points.
Shopping & style. AlUla 15, Lucerne 46: Lucerne leads by 31 points.
Affordability. AlUla 18, Lucerne 8: AlUla leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. AlUla 28, Lucerne 66: Lucerne leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. AlUla 45, Lucerne 46: Lucerne leads by 1 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: AlUla and Lucerne.

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 prices with your weighting.

Lucerne
Best match
54match

Wins on getting around 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
No recordsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Lucerne in July

24 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
141 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

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AlUlaLucerne

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.

Lucerne 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.

Lucerne's sunshine is measured 42 km from the centre, at Zurich Town / Ville..

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). Lucerne: 2005-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Emmen (4.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlUlaLucerne
Official languageArabicFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencySaudi Riyal (SAR)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsG60 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112 or 911112
Elevation692 m436 m
Main airportAl-Ula International Airport (ULH)24 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)49 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-12 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlUlaLucerne
City population32,41386,234
People per km²-2,963
Museums within 10 km214
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 Lucerne 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.