VacationSelector
A heritage tram before the Regent building, Christchurch
ChristchurchA heritage tram before the Regent building
The lighthouse and harbour at Sharm el-Sheikh, Sharm el-Sheikh
Sharm el-SheikhThe lighthouse and harbour at Sharm el-Sheikh

Photos: Christchurch by Bernard Spragg. NZ, CC0; Sharm el-Sheikh by Tanya Dedyukhina, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Christchurch or Sharm el-Sheikh?

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 Christchurch for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

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

Choose Sharm el-Sheikh for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Sharm el-Sheikh’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. Christchurch 38, Sharm el-Sheikh 87: Sharm el-Sheikh leads by 49 points.
Food & drink. Christchurch 45, Sharm el-Sheikh 30: Christchurch leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Christchurch 38, Sharm el-Sheikh 12: Christchurch leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Christchurch 32, Sharm el-Sheikh 42: Sharm el-Sheikh leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Christchurch 84, Sharm el-Sheikh 82: Christchurch leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Christchurch 45, Sharm el-Sheikh 30: Christchurch leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Christchurch 66, Sharm el-Sheikh 62: Christchurch leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Christchurch 48, Sharm el-Sheikh 22: Christchurch leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. Christchurch 32, Sharm el-Sheikh 25: Christchurch leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Christchurch 38, Sharm el-Sheikh 74: Sharm el-Sheikh leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Christchurch 38, Sharm el-Sheikh 10: Christchurch leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Christchurch 45, Sharm el-Sheikh 50: Sharm el-Sheikh leads by 5 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Christchurch and Sharm el-Sheikh.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Christchurch
46match

Wins on live music and the arts and culture and sights with your weighting.

Sharm el-Sheikh
44match

Wins on beaches 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.

Christchurch in July

11 °Cdaytime high
1 °Cnight-time low
68 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
10 °Csea
9 hdaylight a day

Sharm el-Sheikh in July

38 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080JFMAMJJASOND
ChristchurchSharm el-Sheikh

Where the figures come from

Sharm el-Sheikh has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Christchurch: 1991-2020 normals, Christchurch (8.7 km from centre). Sharm el-Sheikh: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureChristchurchSharm el-Sheikh
Official languageEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, MāoriArabic
CurrencyNew Zealand Dollar (NZD)Egyptian Pound (EGP)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+12, UTC+13 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number111Police 122, ambulance 123, fire 180
Elevation20 m1 m
Main airportChristchurch International Airport (CHC)10 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsSharm El Sheikh International Airport (SSH)16 km from centre112 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureChristchurchSharm el-Sheikh
City population383,20073,000
People per km²1,298-
Museums within 10 km111
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Christchurch or Sharm el-Sheikh 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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.