VacationSelector
The Auckland skyline and Sky Tower from the Waitematā Harbour, Auckland
AucklandThe Auckland skyline and Sky Tower from the Waitematā Harbour
The Sanctuary of Truth by the sea, Pattaya
PattayaThe Sanctuary of Truth by the sea

Photos: Auckland by Pseudopanax at English Wikipedia, Public domain; Pattaya by Matrix, Pexels License.

Auckland or Pattaya?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Pattaya for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Pattaya’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, Pattaya 66: Auckland leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Auckland 62, Pattaya 58: Auckland leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Auckland 44, Pattaya 30: Auckland leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Auckland 42, Pattaya 76: Pattaya leads by 34 points.
Nature & outdoors. Auckland 83, Pattaya 40: Auckland leads by 43 points.
Day trips. Auckland 55, Pattaya 52: Auckland leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Auckland 70, Pattaya 55: Auckland leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Auckland 42, Pattaya 36: Auckland leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Auckland 45, Pattaya 42: Auckland leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Auckland 32, Pattaya 84: Pattaya leads by 52 points.
Live music & performing arts. Auckland 45, Pattaya 30: Auckland leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Auckland 45, Pattaya 58: Pattaya leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Auckland and Pattaya.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Auckland
53match

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

Pattaya
52match

Wins on prices and nightlife 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

Pattaya in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
102 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
AucklandPattaya

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.

Pattaya's temperatures are measured 31 km from the centre, at Sattahip.

Pattaya 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.

Pattaya's sunshine is measured 86 km from the centre, at Bangna Agromet / Ban Khlong Samrong.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Auckland: 1961-1990 normals, Auckland Aerodrome Aws (17 km from centre). Pattaya: 1971-2000 (sunshine 1961-1990, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Sattahip (31.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAucklandPattaya
Official languageEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, MāoriThai
CurrencyNew Zealand Dollar (NZD)Baht (THB)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzABCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+12, UTC+13 in summerUTC+7
Emergency number111Police 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199
Elevation196 m35 m
Main airportAuckland International Airport (AKL)18 km from centre63 non-stop destinationsSuvarnabhumi Airport (BKK)83 km from centre150 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days-

By the numbers

MeasureAucklandPattaya
City population1,470,100119,532
People per km²2,630-
Museums within 10 km150
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 Pattaya 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.