VacationSelector
Hanok houses in Bukchon, Seoul
SeoulHanok houses in Bukchon
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Seoul by 거열 박, Pexels License; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Seoul 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 Seoul for

  • wellness
  • shopping
  • nightlife

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

Choose Wellington for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Seoul 18, Wellington 33: Wellington leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Seoul 84, Wellington 62: Seoul leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Seoul 75, Wellington 44: Seoul leads by 31 points.
Nightlife. Seoul 84, Wellington 45: Seoul leads by 39 points.
Nature & outdoors. Seoul 75, Wellington 78: Wellington leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Seoul 77, Wellington 40: Seoul leads by 37 points.
Good for families. Seoul 80, Wellington 62: Seoul leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Seoul 87, Wellington 68: Seoul leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Seoul 85, Wellington 42: Seoul leads by 43 points.
Affordability. Seoul 50, Wellington 33: Seoul leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Seoul 63, Wellington 56: Seoul leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Seoul 75, Wellington 30: Seoul leads by 45 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Seoul and Wellington.

Your match

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

Seoul
Best match
71match

Wins on wellness and shopping with your weighting.

Wellington
49match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Seoul in July

29 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
422 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
21 °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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
SeoulWellington

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. Seoul: 1991-2020 normals, Seoul (2.2 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSeoulWellington
Official languageKorean, Korean Sign LanguageEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyWon (KRW)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsCF220 V, 60 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 119, fire 119111
Elevation38 m0 m
Main airportIncheon International Airport (ICN)49 km from centre162 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureSeoulWellington
City population9,668,465216,200
People per km²15,973487
Museums within 10 km8112
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Seoul 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.