VacationSelector
Palms on Waikiki Beach, Honolulu
HonoluluPalms on Waikiki Beach
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Honolulu by Jess Loiterton, Pexels License; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Honolulu 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 Honolulu for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • families

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

Choose Wellington for

  • prices
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

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. Honolulu 91, Wellington 33: Honolulu leads by 58 points.
Food & drink. Honolulu 70, Wellington 62: Honolulu leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Honolulu 55, Wellington 44: Honolulu leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Honolulu and Wellington are level on 45.
Nature & outdoors. Honolulu 88, Wellington 78: Honolulu leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Honolulu 38, Wellington 40: Wellington leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Honolulu 80, Wellington 62: Honolulu leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Honolulu 52, Wellington 68: Wellington leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Honolulu 60, Wellington 42: Honolulu leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Honolulu 15, Wellington 33: Wellington leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Honolulu 40, Wellington 56: Wellington leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Honolulu 50, Wellington 30: Honolulu leads by 20 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Honolulu
Best match
57match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

Wellington
49match

Wins on prices and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Honolulu in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
26 °Csea
13 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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
HonoluluWellington

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. Honolulu: 1991-2020 normals, Honolulu International Airport (10.1 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHonoluluWellington
Official language-English, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-10UTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number911111
Elevation12 m0 m
Main airportDaniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)7 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureHonoluluWellington
City population350,964216,200
People per km²1,981487
Museums within 10 km1212
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Honolulu 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). 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.