VacationSelector
The wharf at Queenstown with the Remarkables behind, Queenstown
QueenstownThe wharf at Queenstown with the Remarkables behind
A painted funicular on the hillside, Valparaiso
ValparaisoA painted funicular on the hillside

Photos: Queenstown by Robert Linsdell, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Valparaiso by Maclemo, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Queenstown or Valparaiso?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • wellness

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

Choose Valparaiso for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Valparaiso’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, Valparaiso 36: Valparaiso leads by 16 points.
Food & drink. Queenstown 45, Valparaiso 50: Valparaiso leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Queenstown 12, Valparaiso 62: Valparaiso leads by 50 points.
Nightlife. Queenstown 42, Valparaiso 56: Valparaiso leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Queenstown 97, Valparaiso 60: Queenstown leads by 37 points.
Day trips. Queenstown 50, Valparaiso 63: Valparaiso leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Queenstown 60, Valparaiso 33: Queenstown leads by 27 points.
Getting around. Queenstown 45, Valparaiso 44: Queenstown leads by 1 points.
Shopping & style. Queenstown 28, Valparaiso 30: Valparaiso leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Queenstown 20, Valparaiso 60: Valparaiso leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Queenstown 14, Valparaiso 38: Valparaiso leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Queenstown 42, Valparaiso 18: Queenstown leads by 24 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Queenstown and Valparaiso.

Your match

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

Queenstown
40match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and families with your weighting.

Valparaiso
Best match
46match

Wins on culture and sights and prices 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
No seasea
9 hdaylight a day

Valparaiso in July

15 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
71 mmrain in the month
13 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
QueenstownValparaiso

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.

Valparaiso 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.

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. Valparaiso: 2010-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Viña Del Mar / Montemar (17 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureQueenstownValparaiso
Official languageEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, MāoriSpanish
CurrencyNew Zealand Dollar (NZD)Chilean Peso (CLP)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzCL220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+12, UTC+13 in summerUTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency number111Police 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132
Elevation324 m21 m
Main airportQueenstown Airport (ZQN)7 km from centre7 non-stop destinationsComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)87 km from centre67 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureQueenstownValparaiso
City population29,000296,655
People per km²-6,180
Museums within 10 km017
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Queenstown or Valparaiso 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. 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.