VacationSelector
The skyline and the Rocky Mountains over City Park and Ferril Lake, Denver
DenverThe skyline and the Rocky Mountains over City Park and Ferril Lake
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Denver by Zenhaus, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Denver 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 Denver for

  • day trips
  • live music and the arts
  • wellness

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

Choose Wellington for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • food and drink

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. Denver 5, Wellington 33: Wellington leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Denver 54, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Denver and Wellington are level on 44.
Nightlife. Denver 47, Wellington 45: Denver leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Denver 84, Wellington 78: Denver leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Denver 57, Wellington 40: Denver leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Denver 67, Wellington 62: Denver leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Denver 40, Wellington 68: Wellington leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Denver 44, Wellington 42: Denver leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Denver 36, Wellington 33: Denver leads by 3 points.
Live music & performing arts. Denver 66, Wellington 56: Denver leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Denver 40, Wellington 30: Denver leads by 10 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Denver
49match

Wins on day trips and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Wellington
49match

Wins on beaches and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Denver in July

32 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
55 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
DenverWellington

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. Denver: 1991-2020 normals, Denver / Stapleton International, Co. (11.2 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDenverWellington
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-7, UTC-6 in summerUTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number911111
Elevation1,609 m0 m
Main airportDenver International Airport (DEN)30 km from centre231 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureDenverWellington
City population715,522216,200
People per km²1,783487
Museums within 10 km2612
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 Denver 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.