VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Alicante or Wellington?

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 Alicante for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • prices

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

Choose Wellington for

  • live music and the arts
  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Wellington’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. Alicante 82, Wellington 33: Alicante leads by 49 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Wellington 62: Alicante leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Wellington 44: Alicante leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, Wellington 45: Alicante leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Wellington 78: Wellington leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Wellington 40: Alicante leads by 32 points.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Wellington 62: Alicante leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Alicante 66, Wellington 68: Wellington leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Wellington 42: Alicante leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Wellington 33: Alicante leads by 27 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Wellington 56: Wellington leads by 19 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante 40, Wellington 30: Alicante leads by 10 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and Wellington.

Your match

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

Alicante
Best match
59match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

Wellington
49match

Wins on live music and the arts 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.

Alicante in July

30 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Wellington in July

12 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AlicanteWellington

Where the figures come from

Wellington's sunshine is measured 47 km from the centre, at Paraparaumu Aerodrome.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicanteWellington
Official languageSpanishEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyEuro (EUR)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number112111
Elevation3 m0 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicanteWellington
City population366,221216,200
People per km²1,819487
Museums within 10 km812
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Alicante or Wellington 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. 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.