VacationSelector
The Burj Al Arab, Dubai
DubaiThe Burj Al Arab
The Aare at Unterseen, Interlaken, Interlaken
InterlakenThe Aare at Unterseen, Interlaken

Photos: Dubai by Aleksandar Pasaric, Pexels License; Interlaken by Roy Egloff, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Dubai or Interlaken?

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

  • shopping
  • food and drink
  • beaches

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

Choose Interlaken for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Interlaken’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, Interlaken 30: Dubai leads by 50 points.
Food & drink. Dubai 76, Interlaken 25: Dubai leads by 51 points.
Culture & sights. Dubai 40, Interlaken 8: Dubai leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. Dubai 62, Interlaken 15: Dubai leads by 47 points.
Nature & outdoors. Dubai 25, Interlaken 97: Interlaken leads by 72 points.
Day trips. Dubai 45, Interlaken 78: Interlaken leads by 33 points.
Good for families. Dubai 82, Interlaken 72: Dubai leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Dubai 42, Interlaken 80: Interlaken leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Dubai 82, Interlaken 22: Dubai leads by 60 points.
Affordability. Dubai 32, Interlaken 8: Dubai leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Dubai 40, Interlaken 15: Dubai leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Dubai 46, Interlaken 40: Dubai leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Dubai and Interlaken.

Your match

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

Dubai
Best match
54match

Wins on shopping and food and drink with your weighting.

Interlaken
41match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around 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
33 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Interlaken in July

24 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
DubaiInterlaken

Where the figures come from

Interlaken 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. Dubai: 1991-2020 normals, Dubai International Airport (3.3 km from centre). Interlaken: 2005-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Meiringen / Unterbach (19.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDubaiInterlaken
Official languageArabicFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation0 m571 m
Main airportDubai International Airport (DXB)7 km from centre294 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)100 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-10 days

By the numbers

MeasureDubaiInterlaken
City population3,944,7516,123
People per km²-1,424
Museums within 10 km143
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
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 Interlaken 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). 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.