VacationSelector
The Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla, AlUla
AlUlaThe Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla
São Paulo Cathedral, Sao Paulo
Sao PauloSão Paulo Cathedral

Photos: AlUla by Richard.hargas, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Sao Paulo by Webysther Nunes, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

AlUla or Sao Paulo?

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
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Sao Paulo for

  • nightlife
  • food and drink
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Sao Paulo’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, Sao Paulo 42: Sao Paulo leads by 39 points.
Food & drink. AlUla 28, Sao Paulo 84: Sao Paulo leads by 56 points.
Culture & sights. AlUla 70, Sao Paulo 60: AlUla leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. AlUla 5, Sao Paulo 86: Sao Paulo leads by 81 points.
Nature & outdoors. AlUla 72, Sao Paulo 48: AlUla leads by 24 points.
Day trips. AlUla 20, Sao Paulo 47: Sao Paulo leads by 27 points.
Good for families. AlUla 35, Sao Paulo 52: Sao Paulo leads by 17 points.
Getting around. AlUla 15, Sao Paulo 44: Sao Paulo leads by 29 points.
Shopping & style. AlUla 15, Sao Paulo 70: Sao Paulo leads by 55 points.
Affordability. AlUla 18, Sao Paulo 62: Sao Paulo leads by 44 points.
Live music & performing arts. AlUla 28, Sao Paulo 76: Sao Paulo leads by 48 points.
Wellness & relaxation. AlUla 45, Sao Paulo 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 Sao Paulo.

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.

Sao Paulo
Best match
58match

Wins on nightlife and food and drink 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

Sao Paulo in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
53 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
AlUlaSao Paulo

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). Sao Paulo: 1991-2020 normals, Sao Paulo (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlUlaSao Paulo
Official languageArabicPortuguese
CurrencySaudi Riyal (SAR)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsG60 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC-3
Emergency number112 or 911Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation692 m760 m
Main airportAl-Ula International Airport (ULH)24 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsSão Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU)21 km from centre104 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-15 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlUlaSao Paulo
City population32,41311,451,999
People per km²-7,519
Museums within 10 km290
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 Sao Paulo 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.