VacationSelector
The Burj Al Arab, Dubai
DubaiThe Burj Al Arab
The skyline reflected in the water, The Hague
The HagueThe skyline reflected in the water

Photos: Dubai by Aleksandar Pasaric, Pexels License; The Hague by Bráulio jardim, Pexels License.

Dubai or The Hague?

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
  • food and drink
  • shopping

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

Choose The Hague for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on The Hague’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, The Hague 38: Dubai leads by 42 points.
Food & drink. Dubai 76, The Hague 48: Dubai leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. Dubai 40, The Hague 66: The Hague leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Dubai 62, The Hague 38: Dubai leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Dubai 25, The Hague 52: The Hague leads by 27 points.
Day trips. Dubai 45, The Hague 86: The Hague leads by 41 points.
Good for families. Dubai 82, The Hague 72: Dubai leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Dubai 42, The Hague 78: The Hague leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Dubai 82, The Hague 55: Dubai leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Dubai 32, The Hague 35: The Hague leads by 3 points.
Live music & performing arts. Dubai 40, The Hague 58: The Hague leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Dubai 46, The Hague 45: Dubai leads by 1 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Dubai
54match

Wins on beaches and food and drink with your weighting.

The Hague
56match

Wins on day trips 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
No recordsunshine a day
33 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

The Hague in July

21 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
78 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
DubaiThe Hague

Where the figures come from

The Hague 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.

The Hague's sunshine is measured 60 km from the centre, at De Bilt.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Dubai: 1991-2020 normals, Dubai International Airport (3.3 km from centre). The Hague: 1991-2020 normals, Valkenburg (13.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDubaiThe Hague
Official languageArabicDutch
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation0 m1 m
Main airportDubai International Airport (DXB)7 km from centre294 non-stop destinationsRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)16 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureDubaiThe Hague
City population3,944,751548,320
People per km²-5,589
Museums within 10 km1454
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km04
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 The Hague 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.