VacationSelector
The Auckland skyline and Sky Tower from the Waitematā Harbour, Auckland
AucklandThe Auckland skyline and Sky Tower from the Waitematā Harbour
Portofino and its bay from the hillside, Portofino
PortofinoPortofino and its bay from the hillside

Photos: Auckland by Pseudopanax at English Wikipedia, Public domain; Portofino by Michal Osmenda, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Auckland or Portofino?

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
  • families
  • nightlife

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

Choose Portofino for

  • day trips
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Portofino’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, Portofino 60: Auckland leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Auckland 62, Portofino 36: Auckland leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Auckland 44, Portofino 22: Auckland leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Auckland 42, Portofino 14: Auckland leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Auckland 83, Portofino 77: Auckland leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Auckland 55, Portofino 76: Portofino leads by 21 points.
Good for families. Auckland 70, Portofino 33: Auckland leads by 37 points.
Getting around. Auckland 42, Portofino 50: Portofino leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Auckland 45, Portofino 29: Auckland leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Auckland 32, Portofino 9: Auckland leads by 23 points.
Live music & performing arts. Auckland 45, Portofino 7: Auckland leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Auckland 45, Portofino 42: Auckland leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Auckland and Portofino.

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 families with your weighting.

Portofino
38match

Wins on day trips and getting around 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

Portofino in July

27 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
32 mmrain in the month
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AucklandPortofino

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.

Portofino's temperatures are measured 31 km from the centre, at Genova / Sestri.

Portofino 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). Portofino: 1991-2020 normals, Genova / Sestri (31 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAucklandPortofino
Official languageEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, MāoriItalian
CurrencyNew Zealand Dollar (NZD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+12, UTC+13 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number111112
Elevation196 m20 m
Main airportAuckland International Airport (AKL)18 km from centre63 non-stop destinationsGenoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport (GOA)32 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAucklandPortofino
City population1,470,100355
People per km²2,630142
Museums within 10 km1514
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Auckland or Portofino 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.