VacationSelector
The Semperoper, Dresden
DresdenThe Semperoper
The Treasury, Al-Khazneh, cut into the rock, Petra
PetraThe Treasury, Al-Khazneh, cut into the rock

Photos: Dresden by Maksym Kozlenko, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Petra by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License.

Dresden or Petra?

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 Dresden for

  • live music and the arts
  • getting around
  • day trips

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

Choose Petra for

  • culture and sights
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Petra’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. Dresden 10, Petra 5: Dresden leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Dresden 45, Petra 22: Dresden leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Dresden 79, Petra 85: Petra leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Dresden 47, Petra 5: Dresden leads by 42 points.
Nature & outdoors. Dresden 74, Petra 78: Petra leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Dresden 76, Petra 30: Dresden leads by 46 points.
Good for families. Dresden 60, Petra 25: Dresden leads by 35 points.
Getting around. Dresden 74, Petra 25: Dresden leads by 49 points.
Shopping & style. Dresden 42, Petra 18: Dresden leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Dresden 55, Petra 45: Dresden leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Dresden 76, Petra 10: Dresden leads by 66 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Dresden 42, Petra 28: Dresden leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Dresden and Petra.

Your match

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

Dresden
Best match
57match

Wins on live music and the arts and getting around with your weighting.

Petra
31match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Dresden in July

26 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
80 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Petra in July

35 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
DresdenPetra

Where the figures come from

Petra's temperatures are measured 34 km from the centre, at Ma'An.

Petra's station stands 219 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Petra 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. Dresden: 1991-2020 normals, Dresden-Strehlen (3.8 km from centre). Petra: 1991-2020 normals, Ma'An (33.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDresdenPetra
Official languageGermanArabic
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Jordanian Dinar (JOD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzBCFGJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+3
Emergency number112911
Elevation126 m850 m
Main airportDresden Airport (DRS)10 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsKing Hussein International Airport (AQJ)90 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureDresdenPetra
City population562,764-
People per km²1,713-
Museums within 10 km702
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Dresden or Petra 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. 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.