VacationSelector
The Burj Al Arab, Dubai
DubaiThe Burj Al Arab
Rabelo boats on the Douro and the Ribeira, Porto
PortoRabelo boats on the Douro and the Ribeira

Photos: Dubai by Aleksandar Pasaric, Pexels License; Porto by Jakub Hałun, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Dubai or Porto?

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
  • families
  • shopping

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

Choose Porto for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Porto’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, Porto 40: Dubai leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Dubai 76, Porto 70: Dubai leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Dubai 40, Porto 68: Porto leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Dubai 62, Porto 65: Porto leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Dubai 25, Porto 64: Porto leads by 39 points.
Day trips. Dubai 45, Porto 79: Porto leads by 34 points.
Good for families. Dubai 82, Porto 52: Dubai leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Dubai 42, Porto 66: Porto leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Dubai 82, Porto 52: Dubai leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Dubai 32, Porto 62: Porto leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Dubai 40, Porto 52: Porto leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Dubai 46, Porto 34: Dubai leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Dubai and Porto.

Your match

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

Dubai
54match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Porto
Best match
59match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and day trips 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

Porto in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
22 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
DubaiPorto

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Dubai: 1991-2020 normals, Dubai International Airport (3.3 km from centre). Porto: 1991-2020 normals, Porto / Serra Do Pilar (2.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDubaiPorto
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 m104 m
Main airportDubai International Airport (DXB)7 km from centre294 non-stop destinationsFrancisco de Sá Carneiro Airport (OPO)12 km from centre134 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasureDubaiPorto
City population3,944,751273,476
People per km²-6,606
Museums within 10 km1442
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 Porto 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.