VacationSelector
The Semperoper, Dresden
DresdenThe Semperoper
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Dresden by Maksym Kozlenko, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Dresden 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 Dresden for

  • day trips
  • culture and sights
  • prices

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

Choose Wellington for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Dresden 10, Wellington 33: Wellington leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Dresden 45, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Dresden 79, Wellington 44: Dresden leads by 35 points.
Nightlife. Dresden 47, Wellington 45: Dresden leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Dresden 74, Wellington 78: Wellington leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Dresden 76, Wellington 40: Dresden leads by 36 points.
Good for families. Dresden 60, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Dresden 74, Wellington 68: Dresden leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Dresden and Wellington are level on 42.
Affordability. Dresden 55, Wellington 33: Dresden leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Dresden 76, Wellington 56: Dresden leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Dresden 42, Wellington 30: Dresden leads by 12 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Dresden
Best match
57match

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

Wellington
49match

Wins on beaches and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Dresden in July

26 °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°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
DresdenWellington

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. Dresden: 1991-2020 normals, Dresden-Strehlen (3.8 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDresdenWellington
Official languageGermanEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyEuro (EUR)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number112111
Elevation126 m0 m
Main airportDresden Airport (DRS)10 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureDresdenWellington
City population562,764216,200
People per km²1,713487
Museums within 10 km7012
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Dresden 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.