VacationSelector
The Atomium, Brussels
BrusselsThe Atomium
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Brussels by Ettanghe, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Brussels 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 Brussels for

  • day trips
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

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

Choose Wellington for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • families

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. Brussels 18, Wellington 33: Wellington leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Brussels 72, Wellington 62: Brussels leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Brussels 74, Wellington 44: Brussels leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Brussels 60, Wellington 45: Brussels leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Brussels 45, Wellington 78: Wellington leads by 33 points.
Day trips. Brussels 89, Wellington 40: Brussels leads by 49 points.
Good for families. Brussels 60, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Brussels 72, Wellington 68: Brussels leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Brussels 62, Wellington 42: Brussels leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Brussels 40, Wellington 33: Brussels leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Brussels 68, Wellington 56: Brussels leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Brussels 33, Wellington 30: Brussels leads by 3 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Brussels
Best match
58match

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

Wellington
49match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Brussels in July

23 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
80 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 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°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
BrusselsWellington

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. Brussels: 1991-2020 normals, Uccle (5.2 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBrusselsWellington
Official languageFrench, German, DutchEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyEuro (EUR)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number112111
Elevation70 m0 m
Main airportBrussels Airport (BRU)11 km from centre191 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureBrusselsWellington
City population195,546216,200
People per km²5,908487
Museums within 10 km10612
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km100
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Brussels 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.