VacationSelector
The Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla, AlUla
AlUlaThe Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja

Photos: AlUla by Richard.hargas, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License.

AlUla or Reykjavik?

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 Reykjavik for

  • wellness
  • nightlife
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Reykjavik’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, Reykjavik 12: Reykjavik leads by 9 points.
Food & drink. AlUla 28, Reykjavik 42: Reykjavik leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. AlUla 70, Reykjavik 25: AlUla leads by 45 points.
Nightlife. AlUla 5, Reykjavik 45: Reykjavik leads by 40 points.
Nature & outdoors. AlUla 72, Reykjavik 92: Reykjavik leads by 20 points.
Day trips. AlUla 20, Reykjavik 35: Reykjavik leads by 15 points.
Good for families. AlUla 35, Reykjavik 55: Reykjavik leads by 20 points.
Getting around. AlUla 15, Reykjavik 55: Reykjavik leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. AlUla 15, Reykjavik 25: Reykjavik leads by 10 points.
Affordability. AlUla 18, Reykjavik 6: AlUla leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. AlUla 28, Reykjavik 45: Reykjavik leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. AlUla 45, Reykjavik 88: Reykjavik leads by 43 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: AlUla and Reykjavik.

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.

Reykjavik
Best match
44match

Wins on wellness 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 recordsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Reykjavik in July

15 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
50 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
11 °Csea
20 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
AlUlaReykjavik

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). Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlUlaReykjavik
Official languageArabicIcelandic
CurrencySaudi Riyal (SAR)Iceland Krona (ISK)
SocketsG60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC
Emergency number112 or 911112
Elevation692 m8 m
Main airportAl-Ula International Airport (ULH)24 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-16 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlUlaReykjavik
City population32,413138,772
People per km²-569
Museums within 10 km223
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

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