VacationSelector
Swayambhunath with its prayer flags, Kathmandu
KathmanduSwayambhunath with its prayer flags
The wharf at Queenstown with the Remarkables behind, Queenstown
QueenstownThe wharf at Queenstown with the Remarkables behind

Photos: Kathmandu by Nabin K. Sapkota, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Queenstown by Robert Linsdell, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Kathmandu or Queenstown?

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 Kathmandu for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

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

Choose Queenstown for

  • families
  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Queenstown’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. Kathmandu 4, Queenstown 20: Queenstown leads by 16 points.
Food & drink. Kathmandu 55, Queenstown 45: Kathmandu leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Kathmandu 82, Queenstown 12: Kathmandu leads by 70 points.
Nightlife. Kathmandu 36, Queenstown 42: Queenstown leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kathmandu 70, Queenstown 97: Queenstown leads by 27 points.
Day trips. Kathmandu 56, Queenstown 50: Kathmandu leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Kathmandu 20, Queenstown 60: Queenstown leads by 40 points.
Getting around. Kathmandu 25, Queenstown 45: Queenstown leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Kathmandu 55, Queenstown 28: Kathmandu leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Kathmandu 97, Queenstown 20: Kathmandu leads by 77 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kathmandu 28, Queenstown 14: Kathmandu leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kathmandu 45, Queenstown 42: Kathmandu leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Kathmandu and Queenstown.

Your match

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

Kathmandu
Best match
48match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Queenstown
40match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Kathmandu in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
384 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Queenstown in July

6 °Cdaytime high
-1 °Cnight-time low
115 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
9 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
KathmanduQueenstown

Where the figures come from

Queenstown 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. Kathmandu: 1991-2020 normals, Kathmandu Airport (4.7 km from centre). Queenstown: 1991-2020 normals, TerraClimate 4 km grid at the town, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureKathmanduQueenstown
Official languageNepaliEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyNepalese Rupee (NPR)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsCM230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+5:45UTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 100, ambulance 102, fire 101111
Elevation1,300 m324 m
Main airportTribhuvan International Airport (KTM)4 km from centre38 non-stop destinationsQueenstown Airport (ZQN)7 km from centre7 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-12 days

By the numbers

MeasureKathmanduQueenstown
City population845,76729,000
People per km²17,121-
Museums within 10 km90
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Kathmandu or Queenstown 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). 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.