VacationSelector
Senate Square and the statue of Alexander II, Helsinki
HelsinkiSenate Square and the statue of Alexander II
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Helsinki by Ximonic (Simo Räsänen), CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Helsinki 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 Helsinki for

  • wellness
  • day trips
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Helsinki’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. Helsinki 28, Wellington 33: Wellington leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Helsinki 52, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Helsinki 60, Wellington 44: Helsinki leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Helsinki 50, Wellington 45: Helsinki leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Helsinki 58, Wellington 78: Wellington leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Helsinki 62, Wellington 40: Helsinki leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Helsinki 76, Wellington 62: Helsinki leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Helsinki 86, Wellington 68: Helsinki leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Helsinki 62, Wellington 42: Helsinki leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Helsinki 30, Wellington 33: Wellington leads by 3 points.
Live music & performing arts. Helsinki 63, Wellington 56: Helsinki leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Helsinki 82, Wellington 30: Helsinki leads by 52 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Helsinki
Best match
59match

Wins on wellness 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.

Helsinki in July

22 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
58 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
18 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

-5°0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
HelsinkiWellington

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. Helsinki: 1991-2020 normals, Helsinki Kaisaniemi / Harju (1.6 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHelsinkiWellington
Official languageFinnish, SwedishEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyEuro (EUR)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number112111
Elevation17 m0 m
Main airportHelsinki Vantaa Airport (HEL)16 km from centre136 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureHelsinkiWellington
City population694,392216,200
People per km²3,239487
Museums within 10 km7412
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 Helsinki 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.