VacationSelector
The Auckland skyline and Sky Tower from the Waitematā Harbour, Auckland
AucklandThe Auckland skyline and Sky Tower from the Waitematā Harbour
The pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto
KyotoThe pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera

Photos: Auckland by Pseudopanax at English Wikipedia, Public domain; Kyoto by Bert Mulder, Pexels License.

Auckland or Kyoto?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

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

Choose Kyoto for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Kyoto’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, Kyoto 15: Auckland leads by 53 points.
Food & drink. Auckland 62, Kyoto 85: Kyoto leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Auckland 44, Kyoto 96: Kyoto leads by 52 points.
Nightlife. Auckland 42, Kyoto 35: Auckland leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Auckland 83, Kyoto 70: Auckland leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Auckland 55, Kyoto 96: Kyoto leads by 41 points.
Good for families. Auckland 70, Kyoto 68: Auckland leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Auckland 42, Kyoto 72: Kyoto leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Auckland 45, Kyoto 72: Kyoto leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Auckland 32, Kyoto 50: Kyoto leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Auckland 45, Kyoto 60: Kyoto leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Auckland 45, Kyoto 70: Kyoto leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Auckland and Kyoto.

Your match

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

Auckland
53match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Kyoto
Best match
66match

Wins on culture and sights and day trips 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

Kyoto in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
225 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AucklandKyoto

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.

Kyoto's sunshine is measured 43 km from the centre, at Osaka.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Auckland: 1961-1990 normals, Auckland Aerodrome Aws (17 km from centre). Kyoto: 1971-2000 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Kyoto (3.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAucklandKyoto
Official languageEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, MāoriJapanese
CurrencyNew Zealand Dollar (NZD)Yen (JPY)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+12, UTC+13 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number111Police 110, fire 119
Elevation196 m51 m
Main airportAuckland International Airport (AKL)18 km from centre63 non-stop destinationsKansai International Airport (KIX)81 km from centre62 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureAucklandKyoto
City population1,470,1001,463,723
People per km²2,6301,768
Museums within 10 km1577
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km04
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Auckland or Kyoto 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. 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.