VacationSelector
Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo
TokyoShibuya Crossing
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Tokyo by Benh LIEU SONG, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Tokyo 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 Tokyo for

  • shopping
  • wellness
  • day trips

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

Choose Wellington for

  • 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. Tokyo 40, Wellington 33: Tokyo leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Tokyo 98, Wellington 62: Tokyo leads by 36 points.
Culture & sights. Tokyo 84, Wellington 44: Tokyo leads by 40 points.
Nightlife. Tokyo 86, Wellington 45: Tokyo leads by 41 points.
Nature & outdoors. Tokyo 68, Wellington 78: Wellington leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Tokyo 85, Wellington 40: Tokyo leads by 45 points.
Good for families. Tokyo 95, Wellington 62: Tokyo leads by 33 points.
Getting around. Tokyo 98, Wellington 68: Tokyo leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Tokyo 99, Wellington 42: Tokyo leads by 57 points.
Affordability. Tokyo 48, Wellington 33: Tokyo leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Tokyo 86, Wellington 56: Tokyo leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Tokyo 78, Wellington 30: Tokyo leads by 48 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Tokyo and Wellington.

Your match

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

Tokyo
Best match
80match

Wins on shopping and wellness with your weighting.

Wellington
49match

Wins on 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.

Tokyo in July

30 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
157 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
23 °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
TokyoWellington

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. Tokyo: 1991-2020 normals, Tokyo (3.6 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureTokyoWellington
Official languageJapaneseEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyYen (JPY)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119111
Elevation6 m0 m
Main airportTokyo Haneda International Airport (HND)18 km from centre98 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureTokyoWellington
City population14,264,798216,200
People per km²6,501487
Museums within 10 km19212
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

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