VacationSelector
Grote Markt and the Brabo Fountain, Antwerp
AntwerpGrote Markt and the Brabo Fountain
The Burj Al Arab, Dubai
DubaiThe Burj Al Arab

Photos: Antwerp by Norbert Jakab, Pexels License; Dubai by Aleksandar Pasaric, Pexels License.

Antwerp or Dubai?

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 Antwerp for

  • day trips
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

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

Choose Dubai for

  • beaches
  • families
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Dubai’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. Antwerp 15, Dubai 80: Dubai leads by 65 points.
Food & drink. Antwerp 62, Dubai 76: Dubai leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Antwerp 73, Dubai 40: Antwerp leads by 33 points.
Nightlife. Antwerp 56, Dubai 62: Dubai leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Antwerp 33, Dubai 25: Antwerp leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Antwerp 86, Dubai 45: Antwerp leads by 41 points.
Good for families. Antwerp 62, Dubai 82: Dubai leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Antwerp 75, Dubai 42: Antwerp leads by 33 points.
Shopping & style. Antwerp 70, Dubai 82: Dubai leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Antwerp 38, Dubai 32: Antwerp leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Antwerp 58, Dubai 40: Antwerp leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Antwerp 30, Dubai 46: Dubai leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Antwerp and Dubai.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Antwerp
55match

Wins on day trips and culture and sights with your weighting.

Dubai
54match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Antwerp in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
78 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Dubai in July

42 °Cdaytime high
33 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
33 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
AntwerpDubai

Where the figures come from

Antwerp 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.

Antwerp's sunshine is measured 47 km from the centre, at Uccle.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Antwerp: 1991-2020 normals, Antwerpen / Deurne (5.2 km from centre). Dubai: 1991-2020 normals, Dubai International Airport (3.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAntwerpDubai
Official languageFrench, German, DutchArabic
CurrencyEuro (EUR)UAE Dirham (AED)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCG220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+4
Emergency number112112
Elevation7 m0 m
Main airportBrussels Airport (BRU)36 km from centre191 non-stop destinationsDubai International Airport (DXB)7 km from centre294 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasureAntwerpDubai
City population529,2473,944,751
People per km²2,542-
Museums within 10 km3814
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km90
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Antwerp or Dubai 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.