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One page of sourced numbers per city: what a day costs, what the travel advisory says, and which months score best on the weather.

Data: GeoNames, Open-Meteo, World Bank, US State Department, UK FCDO.

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© 2026 Travel City Index. Every number on this site comes from a dataset named on the page that shows it.
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United Arab Emirates · Malaysia

Dubai vs Kuala Lumpur: cost, safety and weather compared (2026)

Every figure below comes from the same datasets for both cities, so the two columns are comparable.

Dubai and Kuala Lumpur compared on cost, safety, weather and size
DubaiUnited Arab EmiratesKuala LumpurMalaysia
Daily cost, per personestimate
Budget$65$35
Mid-range$145$75
Luxury$315$165
Price level0.63× US (2024)0.32× US (2025)
US advisoryLevel 3Level 1
Best monthsJan, Feb, Mar and NovFeb, Mar and Jul
Annual rain140 mm3,388 mm
Average high34.7 °C31.6 °C
Population3.8M1.5M
Time zoneAsia/DubaiAsia/Kuala_Lumpur

The short answer

Kuala Lumpur is about 48 % cheaper per day than Dubai, $75 against $145 (mid-range estimate). Kuala Lumpur has the lower US advisory level (1 vs 3). In September, the daily average is 35 °C in Dubai and 28 °C in Kuala Lumpur.

Keep reading

City overviews

  • Dubai overview
  • Kuala Lumpur overview

Cost and safety in detail

  • Dubai trip cost
  • Is Dubai safe?
  • Kuala Lumpur trip cost
  • Is Kuala Lumpur safe?

Where they rank

  • Cheapest cities in Asia
  • Safest cities in Asia

Countries

  • All cities in United Arab Emirates
  • All cities in Malaysia

Sources

  • GeoNames city database — CC BY 4.0, fetched September 14, 2026
  • Open-Meteo climate archive — CC BY 4.0, fetched September 21, 2026
  • World Bank price level and exchange rate — CC BY 4.0, data year 2025
  • US State Department travel advisories — public domain, fetched September 21, 2026

Dates are the most recent fetch across the cities on this page. Every sentence here is generated from the data by rule, with no AI writing; the formulas are public.