VacationSelector
The old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river, Tampa
TampaThe old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Tampa by Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Tampa 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 Tampa for

  • beaches
  • families
  • day trips

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

Choose Wellington for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • 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. Tampa 70, Wellington 33: Tampa leads by 37 points.
Food & drink. Tampa 57, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Tampa 42, Wellington 44: Wellington leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Tampa 52, Wellington 45: Tampa leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Tampa 55, Wellington 78: Wellington leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Tampa 54, Wellington 40: Tampa leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Tampa 78, Wellington 62: Tampa leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Tampa 22, Wellington 68: Wellington leads by 46 points.
Shopping & style. Tampa 40, Wellington 42: Wellington leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Tampa 40, Wellington 33: Tampa leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Tampa 47, Wellington 56: Wellington leads by 9 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Tampa and Wellington are level on 30.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Tampa and Wellington.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Tampa
49match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Wellington
49match

Wins on getting around 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.

Tampa in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
197 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
30 °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°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
TampaWellington

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. Tampa: 1991-2020 normals, Tampa International Airport (7.6 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureTampaWellington
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-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number911111
Elevation30 m0 m
Main airportTampa International Airport (TPA)8 km from centre101 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureTampaWellington
City population384,959216,200
People per km²848487
Museums within 10 km612
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C8 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

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