VacationSelector
The Elbphilharmonie from the water, Hamburg
HamburgThe Elbphilharmonie from the water
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Hamburg by Wolfgang Weiser, Pexels License; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Hamburg 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 Hamburg for

  • nightlife
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Wellington for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • food and drink
  • beaches

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. Hamburg 28, Wellington 33: Wellington leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Hamburg 55, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Hamburg 62, Wellington 44: Hamburg leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Hamburg 76, Wellington 45: Hamburg leads by 31 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hamburg 52, Wellington 78: Wellington leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Hamburg 70, Wellington 40: Hamburg leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Hamburg 74, Wellington 62: Hamburg leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Hamburg 80, Wellington 68: Hamburg leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Hamburg 65, Wellington 42: Hamburg leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Hamburg 38, Wellington 33: Hamburg leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hamburg 80, Wellington 56: Hamburg leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hamburg 44, Wellington 30: Hamburg leads by 14 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Hamburg
Best match
60match

Wins on nightlife and day trips with your weighting.

Wellington
49match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Hamburg in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
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
HamburgWellington

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

Before you go

MeasureHamburgWellington
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
Elevation6 m0 m
Main airportHamburg Helmut Schmidt Airport (HAM)9 km from centre120 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureHamburgWellington
City population1,869,473216,200
People per km²2,476487
Museums within 10 km7712
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 Hamburg 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.