VacationSelector
The Jet d'Eau and a lake boat, Geneva
GenevaThe Jet d'Eau and a lake boat
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Geneva by Diviosen, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Geneva 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 Geneva for

  • day trips
  • shopping
  • wellness

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

Choose Wellington for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

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. Geneva 45, Wellington 33: Geneva leads by 12 points.
Food & drink. Geneva 55, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Geneva 58, Wellington 44: Geneva leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Geneva 38, Wellington 45: Wellington leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Geneva 82, Wellington 78: Geneva leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Geneva 80, Wellington 40: Geneva leads by 40 points.
Good for families. Geneva 57, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Geneva 86, Wellington 68: Geneva leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Geneva 68, Wellington 42: Geneva leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Geneva 5, Wellington 33: Wellington leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Geneva 60, Wellington 56: Geneva leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Geneva 55, Wellington 30: Geneva leads by 25 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Geneva
Best match
57match

Wins on day trips and shopping 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.

Geneva in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
77 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine 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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
GenevaWellington

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. Geneva: 1991-2020 normals, Geneve-Cointrin (5.7 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGenevaWellington
Official languageFrench, German, Italian, RomanshEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencySwiss Franc (CHF)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsCJ230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number112111
Elevation403 m0 m
Main airportGeneva International Airport (GVA)5 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureGenevaWellington
City population211,152216,200
People per km²13,280487
Museums within 10 km3412
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
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 Geneva or Wellington somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national 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). 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.