VacationSelector
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington
The Croatian National Theatre, Zagreb
ZagrebThe Croatian National Theatre

Photos: Wellington by lumoplank, CC0; Zagreb by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Wellington or Zagreb?

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 Wellington for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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

Choose Zagreb for

  • prices
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Zagreb’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. Wellington 33, Zagreb 10: Wellington leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Wellington 62, Zagreb 55: Wellington leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Wellington 44, Zagreb 56: Zagreb leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Wellington 45, Zagreb 47: Zagreb leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Wellington 78, Zagreb 62: Wellington leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Wellington 40, Zagreb 60: Zagreb leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Wellington 62, Zagreb 52: Wellington leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Wellington 68, Zagreb 70: Zagreb leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Wellington 42, Zagreb 40: Wellington leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Wellington 33, Zagreb 60: Zagreb leads by 27 points.
Live music & performing arts. Wellington 56, Zagreb 52: Wellington leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Wellington 30, Zagreb 33: Zagreb leads by 3 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Wellington
49match

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

Zagreb
50match

Wins on prices and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

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

Zagreb in July

29 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
WellingtonZagreb

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. Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre). Zagreb: 1991-2020 normals, Zagreb / Gric (0.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureWellingtonZagreb
Official languageEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, MāoriCroatian
CurrencyNew Zealand Dollar (NZD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+12, UTC+13 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number111112
Elevation0 m127 m
Main airportWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinationsZagreb Franjo Tuđman International Airport (ZAG)11 km from centre64 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureWellingtonZagreb
City population216,200767,131
People per km²487-
Museums within 10 km1227
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Wellington or Zagreb 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.