VacationSelector
The Adelaide skyline and the footbridge over the River Torrens, Adelaide
AdelaideThe Adelaide skyline and the footbridge over the River Torrens
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower

Photos: Adelaide by Ardash Muradian, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Johannesburg by K, Pexels License.

Adelaide or Johannesburg?

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 Adelaide for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • families

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

Choose Johannesburg for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Johannesburg’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. Adelaide 68, Johannesburg 5: Adelaide leads by 63 points.
Food & drink. Adelaide 72, Johannesburg 58: Adelaide leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Adelaide 48, Johannesburg 56: Johannesburg leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Adelaide 42, Johannesburg 62: Johannesburg leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Adelaide 66, Johannesburg 55: Adelaide leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Adelaide 60, Johannesburg 52: Adelaide leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Adelaide 70, Johannesburg 42: Adelaide leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Adelaide 57, Johannesburg 18: Adelaide leads by 39 points.
Shopping & style. Adelaide 44, Johannesburg 58: Johannesburg leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Adelaide 40, Johannesburg 72: Johannesburg leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Adelaide 63, Johannesburg 55: Adelaide leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Adelaide 42, Johannesburg 28: Adelaide leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Adelaide and Johannesburg.

Your match

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

Adelaide
Best match
56match

Wins on beaches and getting around with your weighting.

Johannesburg
47match

Wins on prices 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.

Adelaide in July

16 °Cdaytime high
8 °Cnight-time low
72 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
14 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Johannesburg in July

19 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AdelaideJohannesburg

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Adelaide: 1991-2020 normals, Adelaide (West Terrace / ngayirdapira) (3.1 km from centre). Johannesburg: 2005-2019 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Johannesburg B / Roosevelt Park (7.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAdelaideJohannesburg
Official languageEnglishEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign Language
CurrencyAustralian Dollar (AUD)Rand (ZAR)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzCMN230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+9:30, UTC+10:30 in summerUTC+2
Emergency number000112
Elevation1 m1,753 m
Main airportAdelaide International Airport (ADL)6 km from centre35 non-stop destinationsO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAdelaideJohannesburg
City population1,387,2904,803,262
People per km²1,0712,922
Museums within 10 km1314
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Adelaide or Johannesburg 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.