VacationSelector
The Auckland skyline and Sky Tower from the Waitematā Harbour, Auckland
AucklandThe Auckland skyline and Sky Tower from the Waitematā Harbour
The Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh
EdinburghThe Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens

Photos: Auckland by Pseudopanax at English Wikipedia, Public domain; Edinburgh by Carlos Delgado, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Auckland or Edinburgh?

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

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • food and drink

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

Choose Edinburgh for

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Edinburgh’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. Auckland 68, Edinburgh 22: Auckland leads by 46 points.
Food & drink. Auckland 62, Edinburgh 53: Auckland leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Auckland 44, Edinburgh 75: Edinburgh leads by 31 points.
Nightlife. Auckland 42, Edinburgh 50: Edinburgh leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Auckland 83, Edinburgh 75: Auckland leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Auckland 55, Edinburgh 75: Edinburgh leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Auckland 70, Edinburgh 62: Auckland leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Auckland 42, Edinburgh 74: Edinburgh leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Auckland 45, Edinburgh 50: Edinburgh leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Auckland 32, Edinburgh 30: Auckland leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Auckland 45, Edinburgh 72: Edinburgh leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Auckland 45, Edinburgh 34: Auckland leads by 11 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Auckland and Edinburgh.

Your match

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

Auckland
53match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

Edinburgh
Best match
56match

Wins on getting around and culture and sights 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

14 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
135 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
14 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Edinburgh in July

19 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
66 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
14 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AucklandEdinburgh

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.

Edinburgh 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.

Edinburgh's sunshine is measured 52 km from the centre, at Leuchars.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Auckland: 1961-1990 normals, Auckland Aerodrome Aws (17 km from centre). Edinburgh: 1991-2020 normals, Edinburgh Airport (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAucklandEdinburgh
Official languageEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, MāoriEnglish
CurrencyNew Zealand Dollar (NZD)Pound Sterling (GBP)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+12, UTC+13 in summerUTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number111112 or 999
Elevation196 m47 m
Main airportAuckland International Airport (AKL)18 km from centre63 non-stop destinationsEdinburgh Airport (EDI)11 km from centre163 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureAucklandEdinburgh
City population1,470,100488,050
People per km²2,6301,884
Museums within 10 km1532
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km03
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 monthNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Auckland or Edinburgh 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). 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.