VacationSelector
The US Capitol, Washington DC
Washington DCThe US Capitol
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Washington DC by Guohua Song, Pexels License; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Washington DC 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 Washington DC for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • nightlife

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

Choose Wellington for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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. Washington DC 12, Wellington 33: Wellington leads by 21 points.
Food & drink. Washington DC 67, Wellington 62: Washington DC leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Washington DC 84, Wellington 44: Washington DC leads by 40 points.
Nightlife. Washington DC 57, Wellington 45: Washington DC leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Washington DC 64, Wellington 78: Wellington leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Washington DC 73, Wellington 40: Washington DC leads by 33 points.
Good for families. Washington DC 73, Wellington 62: Washington DC leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Washington DC 72, Wellington 68: Washington DC leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Washington DC 52, Wellington 42: Washington DC leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Washington DC 28, Wellington 33: Wellington leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Washington DC 67, Wellington 56: Washington DC leads by 11 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Washington DC 26, Wellington 30: Wellington leads by 4 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Washington DC
Best match
56match

Wins on culture and sights and day trips with your weighting.

Wellington
49match

Wins on beaches 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.

Washington DC in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
108 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 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

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
Washington DCWellington

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. Washington DC: 1991-2020 normals, Washington National Airport (5 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureWashington DCWellington
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
Elevation72 m0 m
Main airportRonald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)5 km from centre105 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureWashington DCWellington
City population689,545216,200
People per km²3,896487
Museums within 10 km9812
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

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