VacationSelector
The Campanile, Trinity College, Dublin
DublinThe Campanile, Trinity College
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Dublin by David Kernan, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Dublin 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 Dublin for

  • day trips
  • culture and sights
  • nightlife

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

Choose Wellington for

  • prices
  • 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. Dublin 27, Wellington 33: Wellington leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Dublin 50, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Dublin 64, Wellington 44: Dublin leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Dublin 62, Wellington 45: Dublin leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Dublin 70, Wellington 78: Wellington leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Dublin 72, Wellington 40: Dublin leads by 32 points.
Good for families. Dublin 57, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Dublin 66, Wellington 68: Wellington leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Dublin 54, Wellington 42: Dublin leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Dublin 20, Wellington 33: Wellington leads by 13 points.
Live music & performing arts. Dublin 65, Wellington 56: Dublin leads by 9 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Dublin 25, Wellington 30: Wellington leads by 5 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Dublin
Best match
53match

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

Wellington
49match

Wins on prices 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.

Dublin in July

20 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
62 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
15 °Csea
17 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
DublinWellington

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. Dublin: 1991-2020 normals, Dublin Airport (9.3 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDublinWellington
Official languageEnglish, IrishEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyEuro (EUR)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number112111
Elevation20 m0 m
Main airportDublin Airport (DUB)9 km from centre200 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureDublinWellington
City population592,713216,200
People per km²5,154487
Museums within 10 km4012
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Dublin 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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. 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.