VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Santa Monica 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 Santa Monica for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • wellness

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

Choose Wellington for

  • prices
  • live music and the arts
  • 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. Santa Monica 66, Wellington 33: Santa Monica leads by 33 points.
Food & drink. Santa Monica 60, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Santa Monica 35, Wellington 44: Wellington leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Santa Monica 38, Wellington 45: Wellington leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santa Monica 72, Wellington 78: Wellington leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Santa Monica 64, Wellington 40: Santa Monica leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Santa Monica 70, Wellington 62: Santa Monica leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Santa Monica 52, Wellington 68: Wellington leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Santa Monica 56, Wellington 42: Santa Monica leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Santa Monica 14, Wellington 33: Wellington leads by 19 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santa Monica 38, Wellington 56: Wellington leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santa Monica 45, Wellington 30: Santa Monica leads by 15 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Santa Monica
51match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

Wellington
49match

Wins on prices and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Santa Monica in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 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°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
Santa MonicaWellington

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. Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSanta MonicaWellington
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-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number911111
Elevation32 m0 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureSanta MonicaWellington
City population93,076216,200
People per km²4,270487
Museums within 10 km1912
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Santa Monica 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). 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. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.