VacationSelector
The Burj Al Arab, Dubai
DubaiThe Burj Al Arab
Comares Tower and the Palace of Charles V, Alhambra, Granada
GranadaComares Tower and the Palace of Charles V, Alhambra

Photos: Dubai by Aleksandar Pasaric, Pexels License; Granada by Jebulon, CC0.

Dubai or Granada?

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 Dubai for

  • beaches
  • shopping
  • families

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

Choose Granada for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Granada’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. Dubai 80, Granada 38: Dubai leads by 42 points.
Food & drink. Dubai 76, Granada 62: Dubai leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Dubai 40, Granada 80: Granada leads by 40 points.
Nightlife. Dubai 62, Granada 58: Dubai leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Dubai 25, Granada 80: Granada leads by 55 points.
Day trips. Dubai 45, Granada 76: Granada leads by 31 points.
Good for families. Dubai 82, Granada 52: Dubai leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Dubai 42, Granada 68: Granada leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. Dubai 82, Granada 40: Dubai leads by 42 points.
Affordability. Dubai 32, Granada 63: Granada leads by 31 points.
Live music & performing arts. Dubai 40, Granada 58: Granada leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Dubai 46, Granada 48: Granada leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Dubai and Granada.

Your match

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

Dubai
54match

Wins on beaches and shopping with your weighting.

Granada
Best match
60match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

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

Granada in July

35 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
13 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0204060JFMAMJJASOND
DubaiGranada

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Dubai: 1991-2020 normals, Dubai International Airport (3.3 km from centre). Granada: 1991-2020 normals, Granada / Caserío Hospicio (5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDubaiGranada
Official languageArabicSpanish
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation0 m693 m
Main airportDubai International Airport (DXB)7 km from centre294 non-stop destinationsF.G.L. Airport Granada-Jaén Airport (GRX)16 km from centre13 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-12 days

By the numbers

MeasureDubaiGranada
City population3,944,751233,975
People per km²-2,659
Museums within 10 km1420
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Dubai or Granada 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). 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.