VacationSelector
Wat Pho, Bangkok
BangkokWat Pho
The Burj Al Arab, Dubai
DubaiThe Burj Al Arab

Photos: Bangkok by Lu Zhao, Pexels License; Dubai by Aleksandar Pasaric, Pexels License.

Bangkok 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 Bangkok for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • wellness

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

Choose Dubai for

  • beaches
  • families
  • shopping

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. Bangkok 12, Dubai 80: Dubai leads by 68 points.
Food & drink. Bangkok 95, Dubai 76: Bangkok leads by 19 points.
Culture & sights. Bangkok 80, Dubai 40: Bangkok leads by 40 points.
Nightlife. Bangkok 85, Dubai 62: Bangkok leads by 23 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bangkok and Dubai are level on 25.
Day trips. Bangkok 72, Dubai 45: Bangkok leads by 27 points.
Good for families. Bangkok 50, Dubai 82: Dubai leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Bangkok 50, Dubai 42: Bangkok leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Bangkok 80, Dubai 82: Dubai leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Bangkok 85, Dubai 32: Bangkok leads by 53 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bangkok 52, Dubai 40: Bangkok leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bangkok 75, Dubai 46: Bangkok leads by 29 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bangkok and Dubai.

Your match

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

Bangkok
Best match
63match

Wins on prices 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.

Bangkok in July

34 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
184 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 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

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
BangkokDubai

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bangkok: 1991-2020 normals, Bangkok (5.7 km from centre). Dubai: 1991-2020 normals, Dubai International Airport (3.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBangkokDubai
Official languageThaiArabic
CurrencyBaht (THB)UAE Dirham (AED)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCG220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+4
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199112
Elevation2 m0 m
Main airportSuvarnabhumi Airport (BKK)26 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsDubai International Airport (DXB)7 km from centre294 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureBangkokDubai
City population5,676,6483,944,751
People per km²3,619-
Museums within 10 km5914
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bangkok 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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. 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.