VacationSelector
The Opera House from the water, Sydney
SydneyThe Opera House from the water
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Sydney by Bernard Spragg, CC0; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Sydney 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 Sydney for

  • beaches
  • shopping
  • wellness

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

Choose Wellington for

  • prices

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. Sydney 95, Wellington 33: Sydney leads by 62 points.
Food & drink. Sydney 77, Wellington 62: Sydney leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Sydney 60, Wellington 44: Sydney leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Sydney 60, Wellington 45: Sydney leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Sydney 85, Wellington 78: Sydney leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Sydney 50, Wellington 40: Sydney leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Sydney 75, Wellington 62: Sydney leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Sydney 75, Wellington 68: Sydney leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Sydney 68, Wellington 42: Sydney leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Sydney 22, Wellington 33: Wellington leads by 11 points.
Live music & performing arts. Sydney 73, Wellington 56: Sydney leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Sydney 55, Wellington 30: Sydney leads by 25 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Sydney
Best match
66match

Wins on beaches and shopping with your weighting.

Wellington
49match

Wins on prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Sydney in July

18 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
70 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
19 °Csea
10 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

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
SydneyWellington

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. Sydney: 1991-2020 normals, Sydney Airport (3.7 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSydneyWellington
Official languageEnglishEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyAustralian Dollar (AUD)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+10, UTC+11 in summerUTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number000111
Elevation6 m0 m
Main airportSydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD)9 km from centre99 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureSydneyWellington
City population5,450,496216,200
People per km²449487
Museums within 10 km3812
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C6 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Sydney 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.