VacationSelector
The Auckland skyline and Sky Tower from the Waitematā Harbour, Auckland
AucklandThe Auckland skyline and Sky Tower from the Waitematā Harbour
Palm Springs

Photos: Auckland by Pseudopanax at English Wikipedia, Public domain.

Auckland or Palm Springs?

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 Palm Springs for

  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Palm Springs’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, Palm Springs 7: Auckland leads by 61 points.
Food & drink. Auckland 62, Palm Springs 40: Auckland leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Auckland 44, Palm Springs 42: Auckland leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Auckland 42, Palm Springs 36: Auckland leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Auckland 83, Palm Springs 78: Auckland leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Auckland 55, Palm Springs 38: Auckland leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Auckland 70, Palm Springs 40: Auckland leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Auckland 42, Palm Springs 22: Auckland leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Auckland 45, Palm Springs 44: Auckland leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Auckland and Palm Springs are level on 32.
Live music & performing arts. Auckland 45, Palm Springs 40: Auckland leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Auckland 45, Palm Springs 80: Palm Springs leads by 35 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Auckland and Palm Springs.

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.

Palm Springs
42match

Wins on wellness 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

Palm Springs in July

42 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
5 mmrain in the month
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AucklandPalm Springs

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.

Palm Springs 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). Palm Springs: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Palm Springs (2.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAucklandPalm Springs
Official languageEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori-
CurrencyNew Zealand Dollar (NZD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+12, UTC+13 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number111911
Elevation196 m146 m
Main airportAuckland International Airport (AKL)18 km from centre63 non-stop destinationsPalm Springs International Airport (PSP)2 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAucklandPalm Springs
City population1,470,10044,575
People per km²2,630181
Museums within 10 km153
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Palm Springs 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.