VacationSelector
The Auckland skyline and Sky Tower from the Waitematā Harbour, Auckland
AucklandThe Auckland skyline and Sky Tower from the Waitematā Harbour
Big Ben and Westminster Bridge, London
LondonBig Ben and Westminster Bridge

Photos: Auckland by Pseudopanax at English Wikipedia, Public domain; London by AXP Photography, Pexels License.

Auckland or London?

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
  • prices

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

Choose London for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on London’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, London 25: Auckland leads by 43 points.
Food & drink. Auckland 62, London 84: London leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Auckland 44, London 94: London leads by 50 points.
Nightlife. Auckland 42, London 88: London leads by 46 points.
Nature & outdoors. Auckland 83, London 57: Auckland leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Auckland 55, London 90: London leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Auckland 70, London 82: London leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Auckland 42, London 85: London leads by 43 points.
Shopping & style. Auckland 45, London 95: London leads by 50 points.
Affordability. Auckland 32, London 15: Auckland leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Auckland 45, London 98: London leads by 53 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Auckland 45, London 40: Auckland leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Auckland and London.

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.

London
Best match
71match

Wins on live music and the arts 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

London in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AucklandLondon

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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Auckland: 1961-1990 normals, Auckland Aerodrome Aws (17 km from centre). London: 1992-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, London Weather Centre (1.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAucklandLondon
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 m4 m
Main airportAuckland International Airport (AKL)18 km from centre63 non-stop destinationsLondon Heathrow Airport (LHR)23 km from centre224 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days8 days

By the numbers

MeasureAucklandLondon
City population1,470,1008,799,728
People per km²2,6305,598
Museums within 10 km15216
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km04
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Auckland or London 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.