VacationSelector
A skier in powder among snow-covered firs at Marmot Basin, Jasper
JasperA skier in powder among snow-covered firs at Marmot Basin
The old Bath House in the Government Gardens, Rotorua
RotoruaThe old Bath House in the Government Gardens

Photos: Jasper by Marmot Basin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Rotorua by W. Bulach, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Jasper or Rotorua?

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 Jasper for

  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Rotorua for

  • wellness
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Rotorua’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. Jasper 25, Rotorua 33: Rotorua leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Jasper 22, Rotorua 33: Rotorua leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Jasper 10, Rotorua 38: Rotorua leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Jasper and Rotorua are level on 14.
Nature & outdoors. Jasper 95, Rotorua 86: Jasper leads by 9 points.
Day trips. Jasper 8, Rotorua 45: Rotorua leads by 37 points.
Good for families. Jasper 42, Rotorua 68: Rotorua leads by 26 points.
Getting around. Jasper 18, Rotorua 30: Rotorua leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Jasper 12, Rotorua 22: Rotorua leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Jasper 20, Rotorua 36: Rotorua leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Jasper 7, Rotorua 30: Rotorua leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Jasper 46, Rotorua 86: Rotorua leads by 40 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Jasper
27match

Wins on nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Rotorua
Best match
43match

Wins on wellness and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Jasper in July

24 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
50 mmrain in the month
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Rotorua in July

11 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
113 mmrain in the month
15 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
JasperRotorua

Where the figures come from

Rotorua 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. Jasper: 1991-2020 normals, Jasper Warden (7.2 km from centre). Rotorua: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureJasperRotorua
Official languageFrench, EnglishEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyCanadian Dollar (CAD)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-7, UTC-6 in summerUTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number911111
Elevation1,060 m280 m
Main airportEdmonton International Airport (YEG)304 km from centre52 non-stop destinationsRotorua Regional Airport (ROT)7 km from centre3 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureJasperRotorua
City population4,73858,500
People per km²522
Museums within 10 km11
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Jasper or Rotorua 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). 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.