VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo, Mexico City
Mexico CityThe Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Mexico City by Oscar Dominguez, Pexels License; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Mexico City 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 Mexico City for

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • nightlife

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

Choose Wellington for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around

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. Mexico City 5, Wellington 33: Wellington leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Mexico City 90, Wellington 62: Mexico City leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. Mexico City 88, Wellington 44: Mexico City leads by 44 points.
Nightlife. Mexico City 80, Wellington 45: Mexico City leads by 35 points.
Nature & outdoors. Mexico City 50, Wellington 78: Wellington leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Mexico City 75, Wellington 40: Mexico City leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Mexico City 58, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Mexico City 50, Wellington 68: Wellington leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Mexico City 76, Wellington 42: Mexico City leads by 34 points.
Affordability. Mexico City 75, Wellington 33: Mexico City leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Mexico City 72, Wellington 56: Mexico City leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Mexico City 40, Wellington 30: Mexico City leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Mexico City and Wellington.

Your match

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

Mexico City
Best match
63match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Wellington
49match

Wins on beaches 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.

Mexico City in July

25 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
176 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
13 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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
Mexico CityWellington

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. Mexico City: 1991-2020 normals, Mexico Central, D. F. (7.9 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMexico CityWellington
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number911111
Elevation2,240 m0 m
Main airportMexico City Benito Juárez International Airport (MEX)7 km from centre109 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureMexico CityWellington
City population9,209,944216,200
People per km²6,202487
Museums within 10 km10812
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km60
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Mexico City 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. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.