Dubai or Riyadh?
874 km apart, in United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Each is scored month by month on the same ten years of climate readings, the public holidays that crowd it, and what the flight costs. This is where they part, and when.
Month by month
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dubai | 24° 2d | 25° 1d | 28° 2d | 32° 1d | 36° 0d | 39° 0d | 41° 0d | 41° 0d | 39° 0d | 35° 0d | 30° 1d | 26° 1d |
| Riyadh | 20° 2d | 23° 2d | 28° 2d | 33° 2d | 38° 0d | 42° 0d | 43° 0d | 43° 0d | 40° 0d | 34° 0d | 27° 2d | 22° 2d |
| Dubai, fare from Bengaluru | ₹24,242 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ₹33,380 | ₹29,652 | ₹29,244 | ₹33,578 |
| Pick | either | Riyadh | Riyadh | Riyadh | neither | neither | neither | neither | neither | neither | Riyadh | Riyadh |
Each cell is that destination's own verdict for the month — sweet spot, ok or avoid — with its typical daily high and its rainy days ("11d"). The pick goes to the better verdict; with the same verdict, to the higher score, unless the two are within a whisker of each other, when it is either. A month both would avoid is neither. A dot marks a busy month. Fares are the typical return from Bengaluru, in INR.
Before you go
- Cost of living — Dubai: moderate, about 63% of the United States; Riyadh: cheap, about 47% of the United States.
- Currency — Dubai: United arab emirates dirham; Riyadh: Saudi riyal.
- Plugs — Dubai: type C and G, 220 V; Riyadh: type G, 220 / 230 V.
- Driving — Dubai: on the right; Riyadh: on the right.
- Travel advice — Dubai: no advice against travel; Riyadh: avoid all travel to parts, avoid all but essential travel to parts.
Facts from Wikidata (CC0), the UK Foreign Office (Open Government Licence) and the World Bank. The advisory is written for British travellers; entry rules depend on your passport.
Between them
874 km as the crow flies, about 1h 59m in the air.Nonstop, about 22 a day · 6 airlines. By road, 1,128 km and about 9h 43m.
The flight time is estimated from the distance. A road, train or bus is named only where it was measured — flights from AeroDataBox, roads from OpenRouteService, timetables via Transitous — and none of it is a fare; the searches on each destination's page are where prices live.
Also compared
- Dubai or Abu Dhabi
- Dubai or Cairo
- Dubai or Doha
- Dubai or Istanbul
- Dubai or Muscat
- Riyadh or Abu Dhabi
- Riyadh or Cairo
- Riyadh or Doha
- Riyadh or Istanbul
- Riyadh or Muscat
Every verdict here is the destination's own: ten years of climate readings, the public holidays that crowd it, and what the flight costs. The comparison is the difference between two pages, not a third opinion.