VacationSelector
The Assembly Hall on Temple Square, Salt Lake City
Salt Lake CityThe Assembly Hall on Temple Square
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Salt Lake City by hakkun, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Salt Lake City 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 Salt Lake City for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Salt Lake City’s own page.

Choose Wellington for

  • getting around
  • food and drink
  • beaches

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. Salt Lake City 12, Wellington 33: Wellington leads by 21 points.
Food & drink. Salt Lake City 40, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Salt Lake City 42, Wellington 44: Wellington leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Salt Lake City 30, Wellington 45: Wellington leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Salt Lake City 90, Wellington 78: Salt Lake City leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Salt Lake City 34, Wellington 40: Wellington leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Salt Lake City 72, Wellington 62: Salt Lake City leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Salt Lake City 42, Wellington 68: Wellington leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. Salt Lake City 36, Wellington 42: Wellington leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Salt Lake City 40, Wellington 33: Salt Lake City leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Salt Lake City 55, Wellington 56: Wellington leads by 1 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Salt Lake City 38, Wellington 30: Salt Lake City leads by 8 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Salt Lake City
44match

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

Wellington
Best match
49match

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.

Salt Lake City in July

34 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
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
Salt Lake CityWellington

Where the figures come from

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

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Salt Lake City: 1991-2020 normals, Salt Lake City International Airport (7.9 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSalt Lake CityWellington
Official language-English, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-7, UTC-6 in summerUTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number911111
Elevation1,288 m0 m
Main airportSalt Lake City International Airport (SLC)9 km from centre108 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureSalt Lake CityWellington
City population199,723216,200
People per km²690487
Museums within 10 km1212
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Salt Lake City 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. 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. 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.