VacationSelector
The Auckland skyline and Sky Tower from the Waitematā Harbour, Auckland
AucklandThe Auckland skyline and Sky Tower from the Waitematā Harbour
York Minster from the city walls, York
YorkYork Minster from the city walls

Photos: Auckland by Pseudopanax at English Wikipedia, Public domain; York by PAUL FARMER, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Auckland or York?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • food and drink

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

Choose York for

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on York’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, York 14: Auckland leads by 54 points.
Food & drink. Auckland 62, York 42: Auckland leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Auckland 44, York 70: York leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Auckland 42, York 36: Auckland leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Auckland 83, York 62: Auckland leads by 21 points.
Day trips. Auckland 55, York 80: York leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Auckland 70, York 60: Auckland leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Auckland 42, York 72: York leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Auckland 45, York 46: York leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Auckland 32, York 38: York leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Auckland 45, York 38: Auckland leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Auckland 45, York 34: Auckland leads by 11 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Auckland and York.

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 nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

York
49match

Wins on getting around and culture and sights 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

York in July

21 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
62 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AucklandYork

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.

York 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.

York's sunshine is measured 48 km from the centre, at Leeming.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Auckland: 1961-1990 normals, Auckland Aerodrome Aws (17 km from centre). York: 1991-2020 normals, Linton-On-Ouse (14.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAucklandYork
Official languageEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, MāoriEnglish
CurrencyNew Zealand Dollar (NZD)Pound Sterling (GBP)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+12, UTC+13 in summerUTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number111112 or 999
Elevation196 m25 m
Main airportAuckland International Airport (AKL)18 km from centre63 non-stop destinationsLeeds Bradford Airport (LBA)39 km from centre69 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days8 days

By the numbers

MeasureAucklandYork
City population1,470,100208,400
People per km²2,630766
Museums within 10 km1524
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
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 York 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.