VacationSelector
The Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla, AlUla
AlUlaThe Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla
Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo
TokyoShibuya Crossing

Photos: AlUla by Richard.hargas, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Tokyo by Benh LIEU SONG, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

AlUla or Tokyo?

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

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

Choose Tokyo for

  • shopping
  • getting around
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Tokyo’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, Tokyo 40: Tokyo leads by 37 points.
Food & drink. AlUla 28, Tokyo 98: Tokyo leads by 70 points.
Culture & sights. AlUla 70, Tokyo 84: Tokyo leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. AlUla 5, Tokyo 86: Tokyo leads by 81 points.
Nature & outdoors. AlUla 72, Tokyo 68: AlUla leads by 4 points.
Day trips. AlUla 20, Tokyo 85: Tokyo leads by 65 points.
Good for families. AlUla 35, Tokyo 95: Tokyo leads by 60 points.
Getting around. AlUla 15, Tokyo 98: Tokyo leads by 83 points.
Shopping & style. AlUla 15, Tokyo 99: Tokyo leads by 84 points.
Affordability. AlUla 18, Tokyo 48: Tokyo leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. AlUla 28, Tokyo 86: Tokyo leads by 58 points.
Wellness & relaxation. AlUla 45, Tokyo 78: Tokyo leads by 33 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: AlUla and Tokyo.

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 with your weighting.

Tokyo
Best match
80match

Wins on shopping 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
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Tokyo in July

30 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
157 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
23 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AlUlaTokyo

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). Tokyo: 1991-2020 normals, Tokyo (3.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlUlaTokyo
Official languageArabicJapanese
CurrencySaudi Riyal (SAR)Yen (JPY)
SocketsG60 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+9
Emergency number112 or 911Police 110, fire 119
Elevation692 m6 m
Main airportAl-Ula International Airport (ULH)24 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsTokyo Haneda International Airport (HND)18 km from centre98 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-16 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlUlaTokyo
City population32,41314,264,798
People per km²-6,501
Museums within 10 km2192
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C-4 months

Where else could you go?

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