Photos: Gold Coast by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Queenstown by Robert Linsdell, CC BY 2.0, cropped.
Gold Coast or Queenstown?
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 Gold Coast for
- beaches
- families
- live music and the arts
What lies behind each score is written up on Gold Coast’s own page.
Choose Queenstown for
- nature and the outdoors
What lies behind each score is written up on Queenstown’s own page.
Scoreboard
Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.
What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Gold Coast and Queenstown.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.
Wins on nature and the outdoors with your weighting.
What matters to you?
When should you go?
Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.
Gold Coast in July
Queenstown in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
Where the figures come from
Gold Coast's sunshine is measured 75 km from the centre, at Brisbane Airport.
Queenstown 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. Gold Coast: 1991-2020 normals, Gold Coast Seaway (13 km from centre). Queenstown: 1991-2020 normals, TerraClimate 4 km grid at the town, no weather station within 90 km.
Before you go
| Measure | Gold Coast | Queenstown |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | English | English, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori |
| Currency | Australian Dollar (AUD) | New Zealand Dollar (NZD) |
| Sockets | I230 V, 50 Hz | I230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Left | Left |
| Time zone | UTC+10 | UTC+12, UTC+13 in summer |
| Emergency number | 000 | 111 |
| Elevation | 12 m | 324 m |
| Main airport | Gold Coast Airport (OOL)20 km from centre19 non-stop destinations | Queenstown Airport (ZQN)7 km from centre7 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 11 days | 12 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Gold Coast | Queenstown |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 607,665 | 29,000 |
| People per km² | 433 | - |
| Museums within 10 km | 2 | 0 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 1 | 0 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | 12 months | - |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Gold Coast or Queenstown somewhere new.