VacationSelector
The Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla, AlUla
AlUlaThe Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill

Photos: AlUla by Richard.hargas, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License.

AlUla or Philadelphia?

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

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

Choose Philadelphia for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Philadelphia’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, Philadelphia 36: Philadelphia leads by 33 points.
Food & drink. AlUla 28, Philadelphia 62: Philadelphia leads by 34 points.
Culture & sights. AlUla 70, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. AlUla 5, Philadelphia 55: Philadelphia leads by 50 points.
Nature & outdoors. AlUla 72, Philadelphia 52: AlUla leads by 20 points.
Day trips. AlUla 20, Philadelphia 80: Philadelphia leads by 60 points.
Good for families. AlUla 35, Philadelphia 68: Philadelphia leads by 33 points.
Getting around. AlUla 15, Philadelphia 66: Philadelphia leads by 51 points.
Shopping & style. AlUla 15, Philadelphia 57: Philadelphia leads by 42 points.
Affordability. AlUla 18, Philadelphia 40: Philadelphia leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. AlUla 28, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 44 points.
Wellness & relaxation. AlUla 45, Philadelphia 26: AlUla leads by 19 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: AlUla and Philadelphia.

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.

Philadelphia
Best match
57match

Wins on day trips and getting around 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

Philadelphia in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AlUlaPhiladelphia

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). Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlUlaPhiladelphia
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 m12 m
Main airportAl-Ula International Airport (ULH)24 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-12 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlUlaPhiladelphia
City population32,4131,603,797
People per km²-4,339
Museums within 10 km254
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 Philadelphia 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.