Photos: Auckland by Pseudopanax at English Wikipedia, Public domain; Cairns by Donaldytong, Public domain.
Auckland or Cairns?
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 Auckland for
- live music and the arts
- food and drink
- culture and sights
What lies behind each score is written up on Auckland’s own page.
Choose Cairns for
- nature and the outdoors
- getting around
- prices
What lies behind each score is written up on Cairns’s own page.
Scoreboard
Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.
What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Auckland and Cairns.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Wins on live music and the arts and food and drink with your weighting.
Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around with your weighting.
What matters to you?
When should you go?
Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.
Auckland in July
Cairns in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
Where the figures come from
Auckland's station stands 189 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.
Cairns's temperatures are measured 27 km from the centre, at Green Island Aws.
Cairns 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.
Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Auckland: 1961-1990 normals, Auckland Aerodrome Aws (17 km from centre). Cairns: 1993-2010 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Green Island Aws (27 km from centre).
Before you go
| Measure | Auckland | Cairns |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | English, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori | English |
| Currency | New Zealand Dollar (NZD) | Australian Dollar (AUD) |
| Sockets | I230 V, 50 Hz | I230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Left | Left |
| Time zone | UTC+12, UTC+13 in summer | UTC+10 |
| Emergency number | 111 | 000 |
| Elevation | 196 m | 7 m |
| Main airport | Auckland International Airport (AKL)18 km from centre63 non-stop destinations | Cairns International Airport (CNS)6 km from centre32 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 12 days | 11 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Auckland | Cairns |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 1,470,100 | 146,778 |
| People per km² | 2,630 | 301 |
| Museums within 10 km | 15 | 1 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 0 | 1 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | 1 month | 12 months |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Auckland or Cairns somewhere new.