VacationSelector
The old Bath House in the Government Gardens, Rotorua
RotoruaThe old Bath House in the Government Gardens
Ushuaia below snow-capped mountains, Ushuaia
UshuaiaUshuaia below snow-capped mountains

Photos: Rotorua by W. Bulach, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Ushuaia by Jan Tang, Pexels License.

Rotorua or Ushuaia?

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

  • wellness
  • day trips
  • beaches

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

Choose Ushuaia for

  • getting around
  • food and drink
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Ushuaia’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. Rotorua 33, Ushuaia 3: Rotorua leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Rotorua 33, Ushuaia 40: Ushuaia leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Rotorua 38, Ushuaia 22: Rotorua leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Rotorua 14, Ushuaia 18: Ushuaia leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rotorua 86, Ushuaia 88: Ushuaia leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Rotorua 45, Ushuaia 14: Rotorua leads by 31 points.
Good for families. Rotorua 68, Ushuaia 40: Rotorua leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Rotorua 30, Ushuaia 45: Ushuaia leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Rotorua and Ushuaia are level on 22.
Affordability. Rotorua 36, Ushuaia 42: Ushuaia leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rotorua 30, Ushuaia 10: Rotorua leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rotorua 86, Ushuaia 26: Rotorua leads by 60 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Rotorua
Best match
43match

Wins on wellness and day trips with your weighting.

Ushuaia
31match

Wins on getting around and food and drink 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

11 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
113 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Ushuaia in July

4 °Cdaytime high
0 °Cnight-time low
36 mmrain in the month
2 hsunshine a day
No seasea
8 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
RotoruaUshuaia

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.

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. Ushuaia: 1991-2020 normals, Ushuaia Aerodrome (1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRotoruaUshuaia
Official languageEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, MāoriSpanish
CurrencyNew Zealand Dollar (NZD)Argentine Peso (ARS)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzCI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+12, UTC+13 in summerUTC-3
Emergency number111117 or 911
Elevation280 m23 m
Main airportRotorua Regional Airport (ROT)7 km from centre3 non-stop destinationsUshuaia - Malvinas Argentinas International Airport (USH)4 km from centre9 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureRotoruaUshuaia
City population58,50082,615
People per km²223,592
Museums within 10 km15
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Rotorua or Ushuaia somewhere new.

Browse every destination

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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.