VacationSelector
The Auckland skyline and Sky Tower from the Waitematā Harbour, Auckland
AucklandThe Auckland skyline and Sky Tower from the Waitematā Harbour
Galway Cathedral from the River Corrib, Galway
GalwayGalway Cathedral from the River Corrib

Photos: Auckland by Pseudopanax at English Wikipedia, Public domain; Galway by Dieglop, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Auckland or Galway?

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
  • families
  • food and drink

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

Choose Galway for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Galway’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, Galway 28: Auckland leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Auckland 62, Galway 45: Auckland leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Auckland 44, Galway 33: Auckland leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Auckland 42, Galway 50: Galway leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Auckland 83, Galway 78: Auckland leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Auckland 55, Galway 56: Galway leads by 1 points.
Good for families. Auckland 70, Galway 42: Auckland leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Auckland 42, Galway 58: Galway leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Auckland 45, Galway 38: Auckland leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Auckland 32, Galway 28: Auckland leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Auckland 45, Galway 57: Galway leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Auckland 45, Galway 28: Auckland leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Auckland and Galway.

Your match

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

Auckland
Best match
53match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Galway
45match

Wins on getting around and live music and the arts 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

Galway in July

20 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
91 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AucklandGalway

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.

Galway's temperatures are measured 64 km from the centre, at Shannon Airport.

Galway 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). Galway: 1991-2020 normals, Shannon Airport (64.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAucklandGalway
Official languageEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, MāoriEnglish, Irish
CurrencyNew Zealand Dollar (NZD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+12, UTC+13 in summerUTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number111112
Elevation196 m25 m
Main airportAuckland International Airport (AKL)18 km from centre63 non-stop destinationsShannon Airport (SNN)64 km from centre39 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAucklandGalway
City population1,470,10083,456
People per km²2,6301,563
Museums within 10 km154
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Galway 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.