VacationSelector
Gastown, Vancouver
VancouverGastown
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Vancouver by Xicotencatl, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Vancouver 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 Vancouver for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • shopping

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

Choose Wellington for

  • prices
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

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. Vancouver 42, Wellington 33: Vancouver leads by 9 points.
Food & drink. Vancouver 72, Wellington 62: Vancouver leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Vancouver 42, Wellington 44: Wellington leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Vancouver 42, Wellington 45: Wellington leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Vancouver 97, Wellington 78: Vancouver leads by 19 points.
Day trips. Vancouver 45, Wellington 40: Vancouver leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Vancouver 72, Wellington 62: Vancouver leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Vancouver 73, Wellington 68: Vancouver leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Vancouver 55, Wellington 42: Vancouver leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Vancouver 27, Wellington 33: Wellington leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Vancouver 52, Wellington 56: Wellington leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Vancouver 50, Wellington 30: Vancouver leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Vancouver and Wellington.

Your match

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

Vancouver
Best match
56match

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

Wellington
49match

Wins on prices and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Vancouver in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
42 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
16 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°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
VancouverWellington

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. Vancouver: 1991-2020 normals, Vancouver Harbour CS (4.4 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureVancouverWellington
Official languageFrench, EnglishEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyCanadian Dollar (CAD)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number911111
Elevation2 m0 m
Main airportVancouver International Airport (YVR)9 km from centre109 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureVancouverWellington
City population662,248216,200
People per km²5,759487
Museums within 10 km2612
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

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