VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles for

  • shopping
  • wellness
  • beaches

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

Choose Wellington for

  • getting around
  • prices

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. Los Angeles 60, Wellington 33: Los Angeles leads by 27 points.
Food & drink. Los Angeles 84, Wellington 62: Los Angeles leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Los Angeles 66, Wellington 44: Los Angeles leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Los Angeles 67, Wellington 45: Los Angeles leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Los Angeles 80, Wellington 78: Los Angeles leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Los Angeles 60, Wellington 40: Los Angeles leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Los Angeles 84, Wellington 62: Los Angeles leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Los Angeles 25, Wellington 68: Wellington leads by 43 points.
Shopping & style. Los Angeles 80, Wellington 42: Los Angeles leads by 38 points.
Affordability. Los Angeles 24, Wellington 33: Wellington leads by 9 points.
Live music & performing arts. Los Angeles 83, Wellington 56: Los Angeles leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Los Angeles 60, Wellington 30: Los Angeles leads by 30 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Los Angeles
Best match
64match

Wins on shopping and wellness with your weighting.

Wellington
49match

Wins on getting around and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Los Angeles in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 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

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
Los AngelesWellington

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. Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLos AngelesWellington
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-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number911111
Elevation106 m0 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureLos AngelesWellington
City population3,898,747216,200
People per km²2,994487
Museums within 10 km3912
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 Los Angeles 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.