VacationSelector
The Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla, AlUla
AlUlaThe Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla
The Christuskirche among palms, Windhoek
WindhoekThe Christuskirche among palms

Photos: AlUla by Richard.hargas, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Windhoek by Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

AlUla or Windhoek?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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

Choose Windhoek for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Windhoek’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, Windhoek 4: Windhoek leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. AlUla 28, Windhoek 36: Windhoek leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. AlUla 70, Windhoek 30: AlUla leads by 40 points.
Nightlife. AlUla 5, Windhoek 25: Windhoek leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. AlUla 72, Windhoek 52: AlUla leads by 20 points.
Day trips. AlUla 20, Windhoek 14: AlUla leads by 6 points.
Good for families. AlUla 35, Windhoek 30: AlUla leads by 5 points.
Getting around. AlUla 15, Windhoek 22: Windhoek leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. AlUla 15, Windhoek 30: Windhoek leads by 15 points.
Affordability. AlUla 18, Windhoek 62: Windhoek leads by 44 points.
Live music & performing arts. AlUla 28, Windhoek 18: AlUla leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. AlUla 45, Windhoek 30: AlUla leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: AlUla and Windhoek.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

AlUla
30match

Wins on culture and sights and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Windhoek
29match

Wins on prices 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
14 hdaylight a day

Windhoek in July

22 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
AlUlaWindhoek

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). Windhoek: 1991-2020 normals, Windhoek (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlUlaWindhoek
Official languageArabicEnglish
CurrencySaudi Riyal (SAR)Namibia Dollar (NAD)
SocketsG60 HzM220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+2
Emergency number112 or 911112
Elevation692 m1,650 m
Main airportAl-Ula International Airport (ULH)24 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsHosea Kutako International Airport (WDH)41 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlUlaWindhoek
City population32,413486,169
People per km²-95
Museums within 10 km25
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 Windhoek 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). Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.