VacationSelector
Hawthorne Bridge and downtown, Portland
PortlandHawthorne Bridge and downtown
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Portland by Cacophony, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Portland 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 Portland for

  • day trips
  • wellness
  • shopping

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

Choose Wellington for

  • beaches
  • families
  • culture and sights

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. Portland 20, Wellington 33: Wellington leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. Portland 68, Wellington 62: Portland leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Portland 38, Wellington 44: Wellington leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Portland 52, Wellington 45: Portland leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Portland 84, Wellington 78: Portland leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Portland 58, Wellington 40: Portland leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Portland 55, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Portland 62, Wellington 68: Wellington leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Portland 52, Wellington 42: Portland leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Portland 38, Wellington 33: Portland leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Portland 55, Wellington 56: Wellington leads by 1 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Portland 42, Wellington 30: Portland leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Portland and Wellington.

Your match

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

Portland
Best match
52match

Wins on day trips and wellness with your weighting.

Wellington
49match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Portland in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine 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

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
PortlandWellington

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. Portland: 1991-2020 normals, Portland International Airport (9.8 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePortlandWellington
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
Elevation152 m0 m
Main airportPortland International Airport (PDX)10 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasurePortlandWellington
City population652,503216,200
People per km²1,736487
Museums within 10 km1712
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 Portland 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.