VacationSelector
The Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla, AlUla
AlUlaThe Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla
The Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower, Nairobi
NairobiThe Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower

Photos: AlUla by Richard.hargas, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Nairobi by Lmwangi, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

AlUla or Nairobi?

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 Nairobi for

  • nightlife
  • prices
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Nairobi’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, Nairobi 4: Nairobi leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. AlUla 28, Nairobi 48: Nairobi leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. AlUla 70, Nairobi 35: AlUla leads by 35 points.
Nightlife. AlUla 5, Nairobi 58: Nairobi leads by 53 points.
Nature & outdoors. AlUla 72, Nairobi 84: Nairobi leads by 12 points.
Day trips. AlUla 20, Nairobi 28: Nairobi leads by 8 points.
Good for families. AlUla 35, Nairobi 55: Nairobi leads by 20 points.
Getting around. AlUla 15, Nairobi 20: Nairobi leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. AlUla 15, Nairobi 45: Nairobi leads by 30 points.
Affordability. AlUla 18, Nairobi 60: Nairobi leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. AlUla 28, Nairobi 35: Nairobi leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. AlUla 45, Nairobi 25: AlUla leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: AlUla and Nairobi.

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.

Nairobi
Best match
41match

Wins on nightlife 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
14 hdaylight a day

Nairobi in July

24 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
11 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AlUlaNairobi

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). Nairobi: 1991-2020 normals, Nairobi ACC/FIC/RCC/MET/COM/ (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlUlaNairobi
Official languageArabicEnglish, Swahili
CurrencySaudi Riyal (SAR)Kenyan Shilling (KES)
SocketsG60 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+3
Emergency number112 or 911Police 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999
Elevation692 m1,661 m
Main airportAl-Ula International Airport (ULH)24 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsJomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO)13 km from centre60 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-10 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlUlaNairobi
City population32,4135,545,000
People per km²-7,967
Museums within 10 km24
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow AlUla or Nairobi 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). Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.