VacationSelector
The Burj Al Arab, Dubai
DubaiThe Burj Al Arab
A yellow tram in a narrow street, Lisbon
LisbonA yellow tram in a narrow street

Photos: Dubai by Aleksandar Pasaric, Pexels License; Lisbon by Riccardo Toso, Pexels License.

Dubai or Lisbon?

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 Lisbon for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Lisbon’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, Lisbon 50: Dubai leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Dubai 76, Lisbon 75: Dubai leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Dubai 40, Lisbon 78: Lisbon leads by 38 points.
Nightlife. Dubai 62, Lisbon 75: Lisbon leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Dubai 25, Lisbon 75: Lisbon leads by 50 points.
Day trips. Dubai 45, Lisbon 82: Lisbon leads by 37 points.
Good for families. Dubai 82, Lisbon 62: Dubai leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Dubai 42, Lisbon 66: Lisbon leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Dubai 82, Lisbon 60: Dubai leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Dubai 32, Lisbon 55: Lisbon leads by 23 points.
Live music & performing arts. Dubai 40, Lisbon 60: Lisbon leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Dubai 46, Lisbon 36: Dubai leads by 10 points.
0255075100

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

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.

Lisbon
Best match
65match

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

Lisbon in July

28 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
DubaiLisbon

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Dubai: 1991-2020 normals, Dubai International Airport (3.3 km from centre). Lisbon: 1991-2020 normals, Lisboa / Geof (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDubaiLisbon
Official languageArabicPortuguese
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation0 m100 m
Main airportDubai International Airport (DXB)7 km from centre294 non-stop destinationsLisbon Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS)7 km from centre156 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasureDubaiLisbon
City population3,944,751545,796
People per km²-5,453
Museums within 10 km1480
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km03
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

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