VacationSelector
The wharf at Queenstown with the Remarkables behind, Queenstown
QueenstownThe wharf at Queenstown with the Remarkables behind
The Assembly Hall on Temple Square, Salt Lake City
Salt Lake CityThe Assembly Hall on Temple Square

Photos: Queenstown by Robert Linsdell, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Salt Lake City by hakkun, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Queenstown or Salt Lake City?

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 Queenstown for

  • day trips
  • nightlife
  • beaches

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

Choose Salt Lake City for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Salt Lake City’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. Queenstown 20, Salt Lake City 12: Queenstown leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Queenstown 45, Salt Lake City 40: Queenstown leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Queenstown 12, Salt Lake City 42: Salt Lake City leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Queenstown 42, Salt Lake City 30: Queenstown leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Queenstown 97, Salt Lake City 90: Queenstown leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Queenstown 50, Salt Lake City 34: Queenstown leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Queenstown 60, Salt Lake City 72: Salt Lake City leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Queenstown 45, Salt Lake City 42: Queenstown leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Queenstown 28, Salt Lake City 36: Salt Lake City leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Queenstown 20, Salt Lake City 40: Salt Lake City leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Queenstown 14, Salt Lake City 55: Salt Lake City leads by 41 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Queenstown 42, Salt Lake City 38: Queenstown leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Queenstown and Salt Lake City.

Your match

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

Queenstown
40match

Wins on day trips and nightlife with your weighting.

Salt Lake City
Best match
44match

Wins on live music and the arts and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Queenstown in July

6 °Cdaytime high
-1 °Cnight-time low
115 mmrain in the month
9 hdaylight a day

Salt Lake City in July

34 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
QueenstownSalt Lake City

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. Queenstown: 1991-2020 normals, TerraClimate 4 km grid at the town, no weather station within 90 km. Salt Lake City: 1991-2020 normals, Salt Lake City International Airport (7.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureQueenstownSalt Lake City
Official languageEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori-
CurrencyNew Zealand Dollar (NZD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+12, UTC+13 in summerUTC-7, UTC-6 in summer
Emergency number111911
Elevation324 m1,288 m
Main airportQueenstown Airport (ZQN)7 km from centre7 non-stop destinationsSalt Lake City International Airport (SLC)9 km from centre108 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureQueenstownSalt Lake City
City population29,000199,723
People per km²-690
Museums within 10 km012
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 Queenstown or Salt Lake City somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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. Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. 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.