VacationSelector
The Burj Al Arab, Dubai
DubaiThe Burj Al Arab
Big Ben and Westminster Bridge, London
LondonBig Ben and Westminster Bridge

Photos: Dubai by Aleksandar Pasaric, Pexels License; London by AXP Photography, Pexels License.

Dubai or London?

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
  • prices
  • wellness

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

Choose London for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on London’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, London 25: Dubai leads by 55 points.
Food & drink. Dubai 76, London 84: London leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Dubai 40, London 94: London leads by 54 points.
Nightlife. Dubai 62, London 88: London leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Dubai 25, London 57: London leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Dubai 45, London 90: London leads by 45 points.
Good for families. Dubai and London are level on 82.
Getting around. Dubai 42, London 85: London leads by 43 points.
Shopping & style. Dubai 82, London 95: London leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Dubai 32, London 15: Dubai leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Dubai 40, London 98: London leads by 58 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Dubai 46, London 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 London.

Your match

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

Dubai
54match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

London
Best match
71match

Wins on live music and the arts 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

London in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
DubaiLondon

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Dubai: 1991-2020 normals, Dubai International Airport (3.3 km from centre). London: 1992-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, London Weather Centre (1.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDubaiLondon
Official languageArabicEnglish
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Pound Sterling (GBP)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+4UTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112112 or 999
Elevation0 m4 m
Main airportDubai International Airport (DXB)7 km from centre294 non-stop destinationsLondon Heathrow Airport (LHR)23 km from centre224 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-8 days

By the numbers

MeasureDubaiLondon
City population3,944,7518,799,728
People per km²-5,598
Museums within 10 km14216
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km04
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 London 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.