VacationSelector
The Burj Al Arab, Dubai
DubaiThe Burj Al Arab
The Christuskirche among palms, Windhoek
WindhoekThe Christuskirche among palms

Photos: Dubai by Aleksandar Pasaric, Pexels License; Windhoek by Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Dubai or Windhoek?

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 Windhoek for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Windhoek’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, Windhoek 4: Dubai leads by 76 points.
Food & drink. Dubai 76, Windhoek 36: Dubai leads by 40 points.
Culture & sights. Dubai 40, Windhoek 30: Dubai leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Dubai 62, Windhoek 25: Dubai leads by 37 points.
Nature & outdoors. Dubai 25, Windhoek 52: Windhoek leads by 27 points.
Day trips. Dubai 45, Windhoek 14: Dubai leads by 31 points.
Good for families. Dubai 82, Windhoek 30: Dubai leads by 52 points.
Getting around. Dubai 42, Windhoek 22: Dubai leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Dubai 82, Windhoek 30: Dubai leads by 52 points.
Affordability. Dubai 32, Windhoek 62: Windhoek leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Dubai 40, Windhoek 18: Dubai leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Dubai 46, Windhoek 30: Dubai leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Dubai and Windhoek.

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.

Windhoek
29match

Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors 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
33 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Windhoek in July

22 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
DubaiWindhoek

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Dubai: 1991-2020 normals, Dubai International Airport (3.3 km from centre). Windhoek: 1991-2020 normals, Windhoek (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDubaiWindhoek
Official languageArabicEnglish
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Namibia Dollar (NAD)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzM220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+2
Emergency number112112
Elevation0 m1,650 m
Main airportDubai International Airport (DXB)7 km from centre294 non-stop destinationsHosea Kutako International Airport (WDH)41 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureDubaiWindhoek
City population3,944,751486,169
People per km²-95
Museums within 10 km145
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Windhoek 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). 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.