VacationSelector
Place d'Armes and Notre-Dame Basilica, Montreal
MontrealPlace d'Armes and Notre-Dame Basilica
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Montreal by Arild Vågen, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Montreal 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 Montreal for

  • nightlife
  • wellness
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Wellington for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

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. Montreal 25, Wellington 33: Wellington leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Montreal 78, Wellington 62: Montreal leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Montreal 60, Wellington 44: Montreal leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Montreal 75, Wellington 45: Montreal leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Montreal 66, Wellington 78: Wellington leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Montreal 55, Wellington 40: Montreal leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Montreal 68, Wellington 62: Montreal leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Montreal 72, Wellington 68: Montreal leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Montreal 60, Wellington 42: Montreal leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Montreal 45, Wellington 33: Montreal leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Montreal 76, Wellington 56: Montreal leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Montreal 57, Wellington 30: Montreal leads by 27 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Montreal
Best match
61match

Wins on nightlife and wellness with your weighting.

Wellington
49match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Montreal in July

27 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
98 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 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

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
MontrealWellington

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. Montreal: 1991-2020 normals, Montreal McTavish (3.2 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMontrealWellington
Official languageFrench, EnglishEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyCanadian Dollar (CAD)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number911111
Elevation31 m0 m
Main airportMontreal / Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL)16 km from centre166 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureMontrealWellington
City population1,895,211216,200
People per km²3,806487
Museums within 10 km3712
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Montreal 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.