VacationSelector
The Auckland skyline and Sky Tower from the Waitematā Harbour, Auckland
AucklandThe Auckland skyline and Sky Tower from the Waitematā Harbour
The lighthouse and harbour at Sharm el-Sheikh, Sharm el-Sheikh
Sharm el-SheikhThe lighthouse and harbour at Sharm el-Sheikh

Photos: Auckland by Pseudopanax at English Wikipedia, Public domain; Sharm el-Sheikh by Tanya Dedyukhina, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Auckland or Sharm el-Sheikh?

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
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Sharm el-Sheikh for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Sharm el-Sheikh’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, Sharm el-Sheikh 87: Sharm el-Sheikh leads by 19 points.
Food & drink. Auckland 62, Sharm el-Sheikh 30: Auckland leads by 32 points.
Culture & sights. Auckland 44, Sharm el-Sheikh 12: Auckland leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. Auckland and Sharm el-Sheikh are level on 42.
Nature & outdoors. Auckland 83, Sharm el-Sheikh 82: Auckland leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Auckland 55, Sharm el-Sheikh 30: Auckland leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Auckland 70, Sharm el-Sheikh 62: Auckland leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Auckland 42, Sharm el-Sheikh 22: Auckland leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Auckland 45, Sharm el-Sheikh 25: Auckland leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Auckland 32, Sharm el-Sheikh 74: Sharm el-Sheikh leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Auckland 45, Sharm el-Sheikh 10: Auckland leads by 35 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Auckland 45, Sharm el-Sheikh 50: Sharm el-Sheikh leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Auckland and Sharm el-Sheikh.

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 food and drink with your weighting.

Sharm el-Sheikh
44match

Wins on prices 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

Sharm el-Sheikh in July

38 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AucklandSharm el-Sheikh

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.

Sharm el-Sheikh 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). Sharm el-Sheikh: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureAucklandSharm el-Sheikh
Official languageEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, MāoriArabic
CurrencyNew Zealand Dollar (NZD)Egyptian Pound (EGP)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+12, UTC+13 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number111Police 122, ambulance 123, fire 180
Elevation196 m1 m
Main airportAuckland International Airport (AKL)18 km from centre63 non-stop destinationsSharm El Sheikh International Airport (SSH)16 km from centre112 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureAucklandSharm el-Sheikh
City population1,470,10073,000
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 Sharm el-Sheikh 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.