VacationSelector
The Anshun Bridge over the Jin River, Chengdu
ChengduThe Anshun Bridge over the Jin River
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Chengdu by TurnOnTheNight, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Chengdu 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 Chengdu for

  • prices
  • day trips
  • wellness

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

Choose Wellington for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts

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. Chengdu 5, Wellington 33: Wellington leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Chengdu 86, Wellington 62: Chengdu leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Chengdu 60, Wellington 44: Chengdu leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Chengdu 68, Wellington 45: Chengdu leads by 23 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chengdu 68, Wellington 78: Wellington leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Chengdu 80, Wellington 40: Chengdu leads by 40 points.
Good for families. Chengdu 65, Wellington 62: Chengdu leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Chengdu 74, Wellington 68: Chengdu leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Chengdu 64, Wellington 42: Chengdu leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Chengdu 80, Wellington 33: Chengdu leads by 47 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chengdu 50, Wellington 56: Wellington leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chengdu 58, Wellington 30: Chengdu leads by 28 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chengdu and Wellington.

Your match

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

Chengdu
Best match
63match

Wins on prices and day trips with your weighting.

Wellington
49match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Chengdu in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
177 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ChengduWellington

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. Chengdu: 1991-2020 normals, Chengdu (4.5 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChengduWellington
Official languagePutonghuaEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119111
Elevation500 m0 m
Main airportChengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU)16 km from centre77 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureChengduWellington
City population20,937,757216,200
People per km²1,456487
Museums within 10 km1012
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Chengdu 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). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.