VacationSelector
The Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla, AlUla
AlUlaThe Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla
The adobe New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe
Santa FeThe adobe New Mexico Museum of Art

Photos: AlUla by Richard.hargas, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Santa Fe by dconvertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

AlUla or Santa Fe?

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

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

Choose Santa Fe for

  • day trips
  • shopping
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Fe’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, Santa Fe 5: Santa Fe leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. AlUla 28, Santa Fe 62: Santa Fe leads by 34 points.
Culture & sights. AlUla 70, Santa Fe 66: AlUla leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. AlUla 5, Santa Fe 22: Santa Fe leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. AlUla 72, Santa Fe 80: Santa Fe leads by 8 points.
Day trips. AlUla 20, Santa Fe 70: Santa Fe leads by 50 points.
Good for families. AlUla 35, Santa Fe 45: Santa Fe leads by 10 points.
Getting around. AlUla 15, Santa Fe 40: Santa Fe leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. AlUla 15, Santa Fe 62: Santa Fe leads by 47 points.
Affordability. AlUla 18, Santa Fe 30: Santa Fe leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. AlUla 28, Santa Fe 55: Santa Fe leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. AlUla 45, Santa Fe 55: Santa Fe leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: AlUla and Santa Fe.

Your match

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

AlUla
30match

Wins on culture and sights with your weighting.

Santa Fe
Best match
49match

Wins on day trips 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
14 hdaylight a day

Santa Fe in July

31 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
60 mmrain in the month
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
AlUlaSanta Fe

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.

Santa Fe's station stands 199 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Santa Fe 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). Santa Fe: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Fe / Cieneguilla (12.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlUlaSanta Fe
Official languageArabic-
CurrencySaudi Riyal (SAR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsG60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC-7, UTC-6 in summer
Emergency number112 or 911911
Elevation692 m2,134 m
Main airportAl-Ula International Airport (ULH)24 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsSanta Fe Municipal Airport (SAF)12 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlUlaSanta Fe
City population32,41387,505
People per km²-645
Museums within 10 km210
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 Santa Fe 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.