VacationSelector
Galena Street with the runs of Aspen Mountain, Aspen
AspenGalena Street with the runs of Aspen Mountain
The Auckland skyline and Sky Tower from the Waitematā Harbour, Auckland
AucklandThe Auckland skyline and Sky Tower from the Waitematā Harbour

Photos: Aspen by Moroder, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Auckland by Pseudopanax at English Wikipedia, Public domain.

Aspen or Auckland?

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 Aspen for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • shopping

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

Choose Auckland for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Auckland’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. Aspen 6, Auckland 68: Auckland leads by 62 points.
Food & drink. Aspen 45, Auckland 62: Auckland leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Aspen 22, Auckland 44: Auckland leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Aspen 40, Auckland 42: Auckland leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Aspen 95, Auckland 83: Aspen leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Aspen 30, Auckland 55: Auckland leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Aspen 55, Auckland 70: Auckland leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Aspen 72, Auckland 42: Aspen leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Aspen 50, Auckland 45: Aspen leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Aspen 5, Auckland 32: Auckland leads by 27 points.
Live music & performing arts. Aspen 50, Auckland 45: Aspen leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Aspen 50, Auckland 45: Aspen leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Aspen and Auckland.

Your match

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

Aspen
43match

Wins on getting around and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Auckland
Best match
53match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Aspen in July

27 °Cdaytime high
10 °Cnight-time low
33 mmrain in the month
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Auckland in July

14 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
135 mmrain in the month
14 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AspenAuckland

Where the figures come from

Aspen 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.

Auckland's station stands 189 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Aspen: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Aspen / Woody Creek (5.2 km from centre). Auckland: 1961-1990 normals, Auckland Aerodrome Aws (17 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAspenAuckland
Official language-English, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-7, UTC-6 in summerUTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number911111
Elevation2,405 m196 m
Main airportAspen-Pitkin County Airport (Sardy Field) (ASE)5 km from centre11 non-stop destinationsAuckland International Airport (AKL)18 km from centre63 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureAspenAuckland
City population7,0041,470,100
People per km²7002,630
Museums within 10 km215
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-1 month

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Aspen or Auckland 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.