VacationSelector
The Auckland skyline and Sky Tower from the Waitematā Harbour, Auckland
AucklandThe Auckland skyline and Sky Tower from the Waitematā Harbour
The beach and the oceanfront hotels from the fishing pier, Virginia Beach
Virginia BeachThe beach and the oceanfront hotels from the fishing pier

Photos: Auckland by Pseudopanax at English Wikipedia, Public domain; Virginia Beach by SchuminWeb, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Auckland or Virginia Beach?

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
  • food and drink
  • getting around

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

Choose Virginia Beach for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Virginia Beach’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, Virginia Beach 77: Virginia Beach leads by 9 points.
Food & drink. Auckland 62, Virginia Beach 42: Auckland leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Auckland 44, Virginia Beach 30: Auckland leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Auckland 42, Virginia Beach 37: Auckland leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Auckland 83, Virginia Beach 56: Auckland leads by 27 points.
Day trips. Auckland 55, Virginia Beach 64: Virginia Beach leads by 9 points.
Good for families. Auckland 70, Virginia Beach 75: Virginia Beach leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Auckland 42, Virginia Beach 27: Auckland leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Auckland 45, Virginia Beach 32: Auckland leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Auckland 32, Virginia Beach 40: Virginia Beach leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Auckland 45, Virginia Beach 38: Auckland leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Auckland 45, Virginia Beach 32: Auckland leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Auckland and Virginia Beach.

Your match

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

Auckland
Best match
53match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and food and drink with your weighting.

Virginia Beach
46match

Wins on beaches and day trips 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

Virginia Beach in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
152 mmrain in the month
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
AucklandVirginia Beach

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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Auckland: 1961-1990 normals, Auckland Aerodrome Aws (17 km from centre). Virginia Beach: 1991-2020 normals, Virginia Beach / Gatewood Park (5.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAucklandVirginia Beach
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-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number111911
Elevation196 m7 m
Main airportAuckland International Airport (AKL)18 km from centre63 non-stop destinationsNorfolk International Airport (ORF)20 km from centre42 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAucklandVirginia Beach
City population1,470,100459,470
People per km²2,630-
Museums within 10 km152
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Virginia Beach 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.