VacationSelector
Ross Castle on Lough Leane, Killarney
KillarneyRoss Castle on Lough Leane
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Killarney by NicholasH, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Killarney 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 Killarney for

  • day trips
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Wellington for

  • food and drink
  • 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. Killarney 22, Wellington 33: Wellington leads by 11 points.
Food & drink. Killarney 33, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 29 points.
Culture & sights. Killarney 28, Wellington 44: Wellington leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Killarney 32, Wellington 45: Wellington leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Killarney 82, Wellington 78: Killarney leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Killarney 58, Wellington 40: Killarney leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Killarney 42, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Killarney 47, Wellington 68: Wellington leads by 21 points.
Shopping & style. Killarney 22, Wellington 42: Wellington leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Killarney 35, Wellington 33: Killarney leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Killarney 35, Wellington 56: Wellington leads by 21 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Killarney 42, Wellington 30: Killarney leads by 12 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Killarney
40match

Wins on day trips and wellness with your weighting.

Wellington
Best match
49match

Wins on food and drink 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.

Killarney in July

18 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
88 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
15 °Csea
16 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

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
KillarneyWellington

Where the figures come from

Killarney's temperatures are measured 53 km from the centre, at Valentia Observatory.

Killarney has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Wellington's sunshine is measured 47 km from the centre, at Paraparaumu Aerodrome.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Killarney: 1991-2020 normals, Valentia Observatory (52.7 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKillarneyWellington
Official languageEnglish, IrishEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyEuro (EUR)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number112111
Elevation50 m0 m
Main airportKerry Airport (KIR)14 km from centre10 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureKillarneyWellington
City population14,412216,200
People per km²-487
Museums within 10 km112
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Killarney 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.