VacationSelector
The Iguazu Falls in the green jungle, Puerto Iguazu
Puerto IguazuThe Iguazu Falls in the green jungle
The wharf at Queenstown with the Remarkables behind, Queenstown
QueenstownThe wharf at Queenstown with the Remarkables behind

Photos: Puerto Iguazu by Muhammed Ballan, Pexels License; Queenstown by Robert Linsdell, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Puerto Iguazu 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 Puerto Iguazu for

  • prices
  • getting around

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

Choose Queenstown for

  • nightlife
  • food and drink
  • day trips

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. Puerto Iguazu 5, Queenstown 20: Queenstown leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Puerto Iguazu 28, Queenstown 45: Queenstown leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Puerto Iguazu 9, Queenstown 12: Queenstown leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Puerto Iguazu 14, Queenstown 42: Queenstown leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Puerto Iguazu 95, Queenstown 97: Queenstown leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Puerto Iguazu 33, Queenstown 50: Queenstown leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Puerto Iguazu 55, Queenstown 60: Queenstown leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Puerto Iguazu 54, Queenstown 45: Puerto Iguazu leads by 9 points.
Shopping & style. Puerto Iguazu 17, Queenstown 28: Queenstown leads by 11 points.
Affordability. Puerto Iguazu 48, Queenstown 20: Puerto Iguazu leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Puerto Iguazu 7, Queenstown 14: Queenstown leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Puerto Iguazu 34, Queenstown 42: Queenstown leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Puerto Iguazu and Queenstown.

Your match

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

Puerto Iguazu
33match

Wins on prices and getting around with your weighting.

Queenstown
Best match
40match

Wins on nightlife and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Puerto Iguazu in July

22 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
103 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
11 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
Puerto IguazuQueenstown

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. Puerto Iguazu: 1991-2020 normals, Iguazu Aerodrome (17.8 km from centre). Queenstown: 1991-2020 normals, TerraClimate 4 km grid at the town, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasurePuerto IguazuQueenstown
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
Elevation162 m324 m
Main airportCataratas Del Iguazú International Airport (IGR)18 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsQueenstown Airport (ZQN)7 km from centre7 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasurePuerto IguazuQueenstown
City population54,90329,000
Museums within 10 km00
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Puerto Iguazu 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.