VacationSelector
Vine rows before the snow-capped Andes in the Uco Valley, Mendoza
MendozaVine rows before the snow-capped Andes in the Uco Valley
The wharf at Queenstown with the Remarkables behind, Queenstown
QueenstownThe wharf at Queenstown with the Remarkables behind

Photos: Mendoza by David, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Queenstown by Robert Linsdell, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Mendoza 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 Mendoza for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Queenstown for

  • families
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Mendoza 6, Queenstown 20: Queenstown leads by 14 points.
Food & drink. Mendoza 68, Queenstown 45: Mendoza leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Mendoza 30, Queenstown 12: Mendoza leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Mendoza 40, Queenstown 42: Queenstown leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Mendoza 83, Queenstown 97: Queenstown leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Mendoza 52, Queenstown 50: Mendoza leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Mendoza 42, Queenstown 60: Queenstown leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Mendoza 48, Queenstown 45: Mendoza leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Mendoza 33, Queenstown 28: Mendoza leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Mendoza 56, Queenstown 20: Mendoza leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Mendoza 33, Queenstown 14: Mendoza leads by 19 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Mendoza 55, Queenstown 42: Mendoza leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Mendoza and Queenstown.

Your match

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

Mendoza
Best match
46match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Queenstown
40match

Wins on families and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Mendoza in July

15 °Cdaytime high
2 °Cnight-time low
5 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
10 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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
MendozaQueenstown

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. Mendoza: 1991-2020 normals, Mendoza Aerodrome (8.5 km from centre). Queenstown: 1991-2020 normals, TerraClimate 4 km grid at the town, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureMendozaQueenstown
Official languageSpanishEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyArgentine Peso (ARS)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsCI220 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC-3UTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number117 or 911111
Elevation769 m324 m
Main airportGovernor Francisco Gabrielli International Airport (MDZ)8 km from centre5 non-stop destinationsQueenstown Airport (ZQN)7 km from centre7 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureMendozaQueenstown
City population127,16029,000
People per km²2,355-
Museums within 10 km10
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00

Where else could you go?

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