VacationSelector
The Massachusetts State House, Boston
BostonThe Massachusetts State House
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Boston by Ajay Suresh, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Boston or Wellington?

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 Boston for

  • day trips
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Wellington for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Wellington’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. Boston 35, Wellington 33: Boston leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Boston 64, Wellington 62: Boston leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Boston 72, Wellington 44: Boston leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Boston 47, Wellington 45: Boston leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Boston 60, Wellington 78: Wellington leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Boston 72, Wellington 40: Boston leads by 32 points.
Good for families. Boston 72, Wellington 62: Boston leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Boston 70, Wellington 68: Boston leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Boston 55, Wellington 42: Boston leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Boston 18, Wellington 33: Wellington leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Boston 72, Wellington 56: Boston leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Boston and Wellington are level on 30.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Boston and Wellington.

Your match

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

Boston
Best match
56match

Wins on day trips and culture and sights with your weighting.

Wellington
49match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Boston in July

28 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Wellington in July

12 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
BostonWellington

Where the figures come from

Wellington's sunshine is measured 47 km from the centre, at Paraparaumu Aerodrome.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Boston: 1991-2020 normals, Boston Logan International (3.5 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBostonWellington
Official language-English, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number911111
Elevation43 m0 m
Main airportBoston Logan International Airport (BOS)4 km from centre144 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureBostonWellington
City population675,647216,200
People per km²2,910487
Museums within 10 km5112
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Boston or Wellington 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.