VacationSelector
The Burj Al Arab, Dubai
DubaiThe Burj Al Arab
The church of San Francisco under a blue sky, Quito
QuitoThe church of San Francisco under a blue sky

Photos: Dubai by Aleksandar Pasaric, Pexels License; Quito by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Dubai or Quito?

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 Quito for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Quito’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, Quito 5: Dubai leads by 75 points.
Food & drink. Dubai 76, Quito 54: Dubai leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Dubai 40, Quito 77: Quito leads by 37 points.
Nightlife. Dubai 62, Quito 40: Dubai leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Dubai 25, Quito 86: Quito leads by 61 points.
Day trips. Dubai 45, Quito 55: Quito leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Dubai 82, Quito 32: Dubai leads by 50 points.
Getting around. Dubai 42, Quito 45: Quito leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Dubai 82, Quito 40: Dubai leads by 42 points.
Affordability. Dubai 32, Quito 78: Quito leads by 46 points.
Live music & performing arts. Dubai 40, Quito 38: Dubai leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Dubai 46, Quito 44: Dubai leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Dubai and Quito.

Your match

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

Dubai
Best match
54match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Quito
50match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and prices 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

Quito in July

18 °Cdaytime high
5 °Cnight-time low
32 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
DubaiQuito

Where the figures come from

Quito's station stands 208 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Dubai: 1991-2020 normals, Dubai International Airport (3.3 km from centre). Quito: 1961-1990 normals, Izobamba-Santa Catalina (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDubaiQuito
Official languageArabicSpanish, Shuar, Northern Quichua
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC-5
Emergency number112911
Elevation0 m2,850 m
Main airportDubai International Airport (DXB)7 km from centre294 non-stop destinationsMariscal Sucre International Airport (UIO)20 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureDubaiQuito
City population3,944,7511,763,275
People per km²-4,735
Museums within 10 km1416
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 Quito 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.