Wellington, New Zealand: population, climate, map and landmarks

Overview

Wellington is the capital of New Zealand, in Wellington Region. About 381,900 people live in the city proper, making it the 3rd largest city of New Zealand in our atlas.

It lies at 41.29° S, 174.78° E, about 31 m (102 ft) above sea level, and keeps time on the Pacific/Auckland time zone.

Location

Red dot: Wellington. Green dots: other major cities of New Zealand. Map data: Natural Earth.

Climate

Wellington has a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb). The warmest month is usually Feb, with average highs near 19°C (66°F); the coolest nights come in Jul at about 8°C (47°F). Around 857 mm (34 in) of rain and snow falls in a typical year, spread fairly evenly through the year.

Bars: average daily high and low (°C) for each month; blue columns and figures: average precipitation (mm). Gridded 2001-2025 averages from NASA POWER, so mountain and coastal spots can differ from local station records.

Landmarks and places to see

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa TongarewaNational museum of New Zealand

Basin ReserveSports ground in Wellington, New Zealand

Wellington Botanic GardenPublic botanical garden

Opera HouseProscenium theatre in Wellington, New Zealand

Old Government Buildings, WellingtonHeritage wooden building in Wellington, New Zealand

Te Ngākau Civic SquareSquare in Wellington, New Zealand

Majestic CentreTallest building in Wellington, NZ

St James TheatreTheatre and former cinema in Wellington, New Zealand

Popular sights within a few kilometres of the city centre, ranked by how widely they are documented on Wikipedia.

What to eat in New ZealandNational dishes, street food, desserts and drinks on Intercontinental Chef.

Nearby major cities

← New Zealand All cities

Sources

Population, coordinates, elevation, time zone: GeoNames 2179537 (CC BY 4.0)
Wikidata Q23661 (CC0)
Climate: NASA POWER 2001-2025 climatology

Text written by Geographical Effect from these sources.

Photo credits

Te Papa (National Museum), Wellington: Phillip Capper, CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
Basin Reserve: PaddyBriggs, Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)
WellBotGardenpath: No machine-readable author provided. Ppe42~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims)., Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)
Old Government Buildings - whole: User:Ballofstring, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
CivicSquareWellington: Soupisgoodfood at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 2.5 (Wikimedia Commons)
Majestic Centre Wellington Bond Street: User:Dabbelju, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
St James Theatre: User:Bruce.staples, Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)