VacationSelector
The Colosseum, Rome
RomeThe Colosseum
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Rome by Tournasol7, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Rome 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 Rome for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • shopping

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

Choose Wellington for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • getting around

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. Rome 50, Wellington 33: Rome leads by 17 points.
Food & drink. Rome 82, Wellington 62: Rome leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Rome 99, Wellington 44: Rome leads by 55 points.
Nightlife. Rome 58, Wellington 45: Rome leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rome 58, Wellington 78: Wellington leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Rome 92, Wellington 40: Rome leads by 52 points.
Good for families. Rome 50, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Rome 60, Wellington 68: Wellington leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Rome 72, Wellington 42: Rome leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Rome 38, Wellington 33: Rome leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rome 68, Wellington 56: Rome leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rome 40, Wellington 30: Rome leads by 10 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Rome and Wellington.

Your match

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

Rome
Best match
64match

Wins on culture and sights and day trips with your weighting.

Wellington
49match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Rome in July

31 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
21 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
RomeWellington

Where the figures come from

Rome's sunshine is measured 31 km from the centre, at Vigna Di Valle.

Wellington's sunshine is measured 47 km from the centre, at Paraparaumu Aerodrome.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Rome: 1991-2020 normals, Roma / Ciampino (15.1 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRomeWellington
Official languageItalianEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyEuro (EUR)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number112111
Elevation21 m0 m
Main airportRome–Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO)23 km from centre242 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureRomeWellington
City population2,748,109216,200
People per km²2,135487
Museums within 10 km17812
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km70
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Rome 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.