VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Johannesburg by K, Pexels License.

Alicante 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 Alicante for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • families

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

Choose Johannesburg for

  • live music and the arts
  • shopping
  • prices

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. Alicante 82, Johannesburg 5: Alicante leads by 77 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Johannesburg 58: Alicante leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Johannesburg 56: Johannesburg leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, Johannesburg 62: Johannesburg leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Johannesburg 55: Alicante leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Johannesburg 52: Alicante leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Johannesburg 42: Alicante leads by 26 points.
Getting around. Alicante 66, Johannesburg 18: Alicante leads by 48 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Johannesburg 58: Johannesburg leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Johannesburg 72: Johannesburg leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Johannesburg 55: Johannesburg leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante 40, Johannesburg 28: Alicante leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and Johannesburg.

Your match

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

Alicante
Best match
59match

Wins on beaches and getting around with your weighting.

Johannesburg
47match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Alicante in July

30 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AlicanteJohannesburg

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 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

MeasureAlicanteJohannesburg
Official languageSpanishEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign Language
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Rand (ZAR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCMN230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+2
Emergency number112112
Elevation3 m1,753 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicanteJohannesburg
City population366,2214,803,262
People per km²1,8192,922
Museums within 10 km814
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Alicante 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.