VacationSelector
Surfers Paradise from Narrowneck Beach, Gold Coast
Gold CoastSurfers Paradise from Narrowneck Beach
The Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, Wilmington
WilmingtonThe Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge

Photos: Gold Coast by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Wilmington by Unexpected Snacks, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Gold Coast or Wilmington?

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

  • families
  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

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

Choose Wilmington for

  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Wilmington’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. Gold Coast 92, Wilmington 73: Gold Coast leads by 19 points.
Food & drink. Gold Coast 47, Wilmington 48: Wilmington leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Gold Coast 15, Wilmington 40: Wilmington leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Gold Coast 55, Wilmington 40: Gold Coast leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Gold Coast 82, Wilmington 58: Gold Coast leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Gold Coast 52, Wilmington 45: Gold Coast leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Gold Coast 89, Wilmington 62: Gold Coast leads by 27 points.
Getting around. Gold Coast 45, Wilmington 28: Gold Coast leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Gold Coast 40, Wilmington 33: Gold Coast leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Gold Coast 35, Wilmington 42: Wilmington leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Gold Coast 30, Wilmington 40: Wilmington leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Gold Coast 42, Wilmington 33: Gold Coast leads by 9 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Gold Coast and Wilmington.

Your match

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

Gold Coast
Best match
52match

Wins on families and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Wilmington
45match

Wins on culture and sights and live music and the arts 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

22 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
59 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
11 hdaylight a day

Wilmington in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
174 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Gold CoastWilmington

Where the figures come from

Gold Coast's sunshine is measured 75 km from the centre, at Brisbane Airport.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Gold Coast: 1991-2020 normals, Gold Coast Seaway (13 km from centre). Wilmington: 1991-2020 normals, Wilmington / The Palms Mobile Home Park (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGold CoastWilmington
Official languageEnglish-
CurrencyAustralian Dollar (AUD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+10UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number000911
Elevation12 m9 m
Main airportGold Coast Airport (OOL)20 km from centre19 non-stop destinationsWilmington International Airport (ILM)5 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureGold CoastWilmington
City population607,665115,451
People per km²433839
Museums within 10 km22
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Gold Coast or Wilmington 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). 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. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.