Photos: Rotorua by W. Bulach, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Sedona by dconvertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.
Rotorua or Sedona?
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 Rotorua for
- families
- culture and sights
- prices
What lies behind each score is written up on Rotorua’s own page.
Choose Sedona for
- shopping
- day trips
- nature and the outdoors
What lies behind each score is written up on Sedona’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: Rotorua and Sedona.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Wins on families and culture and sights with your weighting.
Wins on shopping and day trips with your weighting.
What matters to you?
When should you go?
Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.
Rotorua in July
Sedona in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
Where the figures come from
Rotorua 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.
Sedona's station stands 153 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.
Sedona 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. Rotorua: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Sedona: 2009-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Sedona / West Sedona (1.3 km from centre).
Before you go
| Measure | Rotorua | Sedona |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | English, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori | - |
| Currency | New Zealand Dollar (NZD) | US Dollar (USD) |
| Sockets | I230 V, 50 Hz | AB120 V, 60 Hz |
| Driving side | Left | Right |
| Time zone | UTC+12, UTC+13 in summer | UTC-7 |
| Emergency number | 111 | 911 |
| Elevation | 280 m | 1,319 m |
| Main airport | Rotorua Regional Airport (ROT)7 km from centre3 non-stop destinations | Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)160 km from centre148 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 12 days | 12 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Rotorua | Sedona |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 58,500 | 9,684 |
| People per km² | 22 | 195 |
| Museums within 10 km | 1 | 0 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 0 | 0 |
| 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 Rotorua or Sedona somewhere new.