Photos: Queenstown by Robert Linsdell, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Sorrento by Berthold Werner, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.
Queenstown or Sorrento?
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
- families
- nature and the outdoors
- nightlife
What lies behind each score is written up on Queenstown’s own page.
Choose Sorrento for
- day trips
- beaches
- culture and sights
What lies behind each score is written up on Sorrento’s own page.
Scoreboard
Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.
What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Queenstown and Sorrento.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Wins on families and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.
Wins on day trips 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.
Queenstown in July
Sorrento in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
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.
Sorrento has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.
Sorrento's sunshine is measured 54 km from the centre, at Grazzanise.
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. Sorrento: 2005-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Capri (17 km from centre).
Before you go
| Measure | Queenstown | Sorrento |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | English, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori | Italian |
| Currency | New Zealand Dollar (NZD) | Euro (EUR) |
| Sockets | I230 V, 50 Hz | CFL230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Left | Right |
| Time zone | UTC+12, UTC+13 in summer | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer |
| Emergency number | 111 | 112 |
| Elevation | 324 m | 50 m |
| Main airport | Queenstown Airport (ZQN)7 km from centre7 non-stop destinations | Naples International Airport (NAP)30 km from centre131 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 12 days | 13 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Queenstown | Sorrento |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 29,000 | 15,407 |
| People per km² | - | 1,541 |
| Museums within 10 km | 0 | 6 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 0 | 5 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | - | 5 months |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Queenstown or Sorrento somewhere new.