VacationSelector
The cathedral from the gardens, Malaga
MalagaThe cathedral from the gardens
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Malaga by Holger Uwe Schmitt, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Malaga 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 Malaga for

  • day trips
  • beaches
  • prices

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

Choose Wellington for

  • live music and the arts
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Malaga 77, Wellington 33: Malaga leads by 44 points.
Food & drink. Malaga 68, Wellington 62: Malaga leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Malaga 65, Wellington 44: Malaga leads by 21 points.
Nightlife. Malaga 62, Wellington 45: Malaga leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Malaga 73, Wellington 78: Wellington leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Malaga 87, Wellington 40: Malaga leads by 47 points.
Good for families. Malaga 70, Wellington 62: Malaga leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Malaga 70, Wellington 68: Malaga leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Malaga 55, Wellington 42: Malaga leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Malaga 55, Wellington 33: Malaga leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Malaga 45, Wellington 56: Wellington leads by 11 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Malaga 42, Wellington 30: Malaga leads by 12 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Malaga
Best match
64match

Wins on day trips and beaches with your weighting.

Wellington
49match

Wins on live music and the arts 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.

Malaga in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
22 °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°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
MalagaWellington

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. Malaga: 1991-2020 normals, Malaga / Aeropuerto (8.2 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMalagaWellington
Official languageSpanishEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyEuro (EUR)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number112111
Elevation18 m0 m
Main airportMálaga-Costa del Sol Airport (AGP)8 km from centre166 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureMalagaWellington
City population599,063216,200
People per km²1,517487
Museums within 10 km3212
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

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