VacationSelector
The Viru Gate, Tallinn
TallinnThe Viru Gate
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Tallinn by Jorge Franganillo, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Tallinn 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 Tallinn for

  • culture and sights
  • wellness
  • day trips

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

Choose Wellington for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • food and drink
  • live music and the arts

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. Tallinn 28, Wellington 33: Wellington leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Tallinn 52, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Tallinn 68, Wellington 44: Tallinn leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Tallinn 44, Wellington 45: Wellington leads by 1 points.
Nature & outdoors. Tallinn 55, Wellington 78: Wellington leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Tallinn 58, Wellington 40: Tallinn leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Tallinn 60, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Tallinn 72, Wellington 68: Tallinn leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Tallinn 40, Wellington 42: Wellington leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Tallinn 47, Wellington 33: Tallinn leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Tallinn 50, Wellington 56: Wellington leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Tallinn 50, Wellington 30: Tallinn leads by 20 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Tallinn
Best match
52match

Wins on culture and sights and wellness with your weighting.

Wellington
49match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Tallinn in July

22 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
18 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

-5°0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
TallinnWellington

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. Tallinn: 1991-2020 normals, Tallin / Harku (10.9 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureTallinnWellington
Official languageEstonianEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyEuro (EUR)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number112111
Elevation28 m0 m
Main airportLennart Meri Tallinn Airport (TLL)6 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureTallinnWellington
City population457,572216,200
People per km²2,871487
Museums within 10 km1612
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 Tallinn 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.