VacationSelector
The Auckland skyline and Sky Tower from the Waitematā Harbour, Auckland
AucklandThe Auckland skyline and Sky Tower from the Waitematā Harbour
A boat in the swell beside El Arco, Los Cabos
Los CabosA boat in the swell beside El Arco

Photos: Auckland by Pseudopanax at English Wikipedia, Public domain; Los Cabos by Jules Clark, Pexels License.

Auckland or Los Cabos?

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
  • culture and sights
  • families

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

Choose Los Cabos for

  • nightlife
  • beaches
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Los Cabos’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, Los Cabos 84: Los Cabos leads by 16 points.
Food & drink. Auckland 62, Los Cabos 54: Auckland leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Auckland 44, Los Cabos 20: Auckland leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Auckland 42, Los Cabos 66: Los Cabos leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Auckland 83, Los Cabos 78: Auckland leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Auckland 55, Los Cabos 42: Auckland leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Auckland 70, Los Cabos 55: Auckland leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Auckland 42, Los Cabos 28: Auckland leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Auckland 45, Los Cabos 36: Auckland leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Auckland 32, Los Cabos 28: Auckland leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Auckland 45, Los Cabos 12: Auckland leads by 33 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Auckland 45, Los Cabos 58: Los Cabos leads by 13 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Auckland and Los Cabos.

Your match

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

Auckland
Best match
53match

Wins on live music and the arts and culture and sights with your weighting.

Los Cabos
47match

Wins on nightlife and beaches 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
14 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Los Cabos in July

30 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
19 mmrain in the month
26 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AucklandLos Cabos

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.

Los Cabos has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Auckland: 1961-1990 normals, Auckland Aerodrome Aws (17 km from centre). Los Cabos: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureAucklandLos Cabos
Official languageEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, MāoriSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyNew Zealand Dollar (NZD)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+12, UTC+13 in summerUTC-7
Emergency number111911
Elevation196 m11 m
Main airportAuckland International Airport (AKL)18 km from centre63 non-stop destinationsLos Cabos International Airport (SJD)35 km from centre54 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureAucklandLos Cabos
City population1,470,100202,694
People per km²2,630-
Museums within 10 km151
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Auckland or Los Cabos 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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.