VacationSelector
Philae temple on the Nile, Aswan
AswanPhilae temple on the Nile
White sand and the turquoise Gulf of Mexico, Gulf Shores
Gulf ShoresWhite sand and the turquoise Gulf of Mexico

Photos: Aswan by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Gulf Shores by ourgulfshoresvacation.com, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Aswan or Gulf Shores?

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 Aswan for

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • getting around

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

Choose Gulf Shores for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Gulf Shores’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. Aswan 10, Gulf Shores 84: Gulf Shores leads by 74 points.
Food & drink. Aswan 30, Gulf Shores 38: Gulf Shores leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Aswan 64, Gulf Shores 12: Aswan leads by 52 points.
Nightlife. Aswan 8, Gulf Shores 32: Gulf Shores leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Aswan 45, Gulf Shores 52: Gulf Shores leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Aswan and Gulf Shores are level on 52.
Good for families. Aswan 32, Gulf Shores 75: Gulf Shores leads by 43 points.
Getting around. Aswan 40, Gulf Shores 15: Aswan leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Aswan 30, Gulf Shores 22: Aswan leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Aswan 92, Gulf Shores 42: Aswan leads by 50 points.
Live music & performing arts. Aswan 14, Gulf Shores 27: Gulf Shores leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Aswan 40, Gulf Shores 28: Aswan leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Aswan and Gulf Shores.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Aswan
38match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Gulf Shores
40match

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.

Aswan in July

42 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Gulf Shores in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
165 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AswanGulf Shores

Where the figures come from

Gulf Shores 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. Aswan: 1991-2020 normals, Asswan (18 km from centre). Gulf Shores: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Gulf Shores / Bay Village Mobile Home Park (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAswanGulf Shores
Official languageArabic-
CurrencyEgyptian Pound (EGP)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 122, ambulance 123, fire 180911
Elevation99 m2 m
Main airportAswan International Airport (ASW)16 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsPensacola International Airport (PNS)54 km from centre27 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAswanGulf Shores
City population401,89015,014
People per km²1,072207
Museums within 10 km31
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-8 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Aswan or Gulf Shores 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). 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. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.