VacationSelector
The British Columbia Parliament Buildings, Victoria
VictoriaThe British Columbia Parliament Buildings
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Victoria by Guilice, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Victoria 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 Victoria for

  • wellness
  • day trips
  • prices

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

Choose Wellington for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

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. Victoria 28, Wellington 33: Wellington leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Victoria 50, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Victoria 42, Wellington 44: Wellington leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Victoria 30, Wellington 45: Wellington leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Victoria 77, Wellington 78: Wellington leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Victoria 54, Wellington 40: Victoria leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Victoria and Wellington are level on 62.
Getting around. Victoria 60, Wellington 68: Wellington leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Victoria 40, Wellington 42: Wellington leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Victoria 34, Wellington 33: Victoria leads by 1 points.
Live music & performing arts. Victoria 40, Wellington 56: Wellington leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Victoria 48, Wellington 30: Victoria leads by 18 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Victoria
47match

Wins on wellness and day trips with your weighting.

Wellington
49match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Victoria in July

21 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
11 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
12 °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

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
VictoriaWellington

Where the figures come from

Victoria's sunshine is measured 87 km from the centre, at Vancouver International Airport.

Wellington's sunshine is measured 47 km from the centre, at Paraparaumu Aerodrome.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Victoria: 1991-2020 normals, Victoria Gonzales CS (3.6 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureVictoriaWellington
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
Elevation23 m0 m
Main airportVictoria International Airport (YYJ)25 km from centre16 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureVictoriaWellington
City population91,867216,200
People per km²4,711487
Museums within 10 km612
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 Victoria 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.