VacationSelector
The Hôtel du Palais, Biarritz
BiarritzThe Hôtel du Palais
The Burj Al Arab, Dubai
DubaiThe Burj Al Arab

Photos: Biarritz by Lilipiapia, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Dubai by Aleksandar Pasaric, Pexels License.

Biarritz 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 Biarritz for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips
  • wellness

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

Choose Dubai for

  • shopping
  • nightlife
  • families

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. Biarritz 68, Dubai 80: Dubai leads by 12 points.
Food & drink. Biarritz 62, Dubai 76: Dubai leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Biarritz 33, Dubai 40: Dubai leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Biarritz 36, Dubai 62: Dubai leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Biarritz 74, Dubai 25: Biarritz leads by 49 points.
Day trips. Biarritz 80, Dubai 45: Biarritz leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Biarritz 62, Dubai 82: Dubai leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Biarritz 58, Dubai 42: Biarritz leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Biarritz 42, Dubai 82: Dubai leads by 40 points.
Affordability. Biarritz 30, Dubai 32: Dubai leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Biarritz 38, Dubai 40: Dubai leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Biarritz 64, Dubai 46: Biarritz leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Biarritz and Dubai.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Biarritz
54match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and day trips with your weighting.

Dubai
54match

Wins on shopping 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.

Biarritz in July

24 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
97 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
BiarritzDubai

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Biarritz: 1999-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Biarritz (2.5 km from centre). Dubai: 1991-2020 normals, Dubai International Airport (3.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBiarritzDubai
Official languageFrenchArabic
CurrencyEuro (EUR)UAE Dirham (AED)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCG220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+4
Emergency number112112
Elevation0 m0 m
Main airportBiarritz Pays Basque airport (BIQ)3 km from centre25 non-stop destinationsDubai International Airport (DXB)7 km from centre294 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureBiarritzDubai
City population26,2063,944,751
People per km²2,240-
Museums within 10 km814
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Biarritz 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). 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. 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.