VacationSelector
The Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla, AlUla
AlUlaThe Qasr al-Farid tomb at Hegra near AlUla
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower

Photos: AlUla by Richard.hargas, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Johannesburg by K, Pexels License.

AlUla 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 AlUla for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Johannesburg for

  • nightlife
  • prices
  • 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. AlUla 3, Johannesburg 5: Johannesburg leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. AlUla 28, Johannesburg 58: Johannesburg leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. AlUla 70, Johannesburg 56: AlUla leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. AlUla 5, Johannesburg 62: Johannesburg leads by 57 points.
Nature & outdoors. AlUla 72, Johannesburg 55: AlUla leads by 17 points.
Day trips. AlUla 20, Johannesburg 52: Johannesburg leads by 32 points.
Good for families. AlUla 35, Johannesburg 42: Johannesburg leads by 7 points.
Getting around. AlUla 15, Johannesburg 18: Johannesburg leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. AlUla 15, Johannesburg 58: Johannesburg leads by 43 points.
Affordability. AlUla 18, Johannesburg 72: Johannesburg leads by 54 points.
Live music & performing arts. AlUla 28, Johannesburg 55: Johannesburg leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. AlUla 45, Johannesburg 28: AlUla leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: AlUla and Johannesburg.

Your match

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

AlUla
30match

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

Johannesburg
Best match
47match

Wins on nightlife and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

AlUla in July

43 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Johannesburg in July

19 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AlUlaJohannesburg

Where the figures come from

AlUla has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. AlUla: 2010-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Alula / Al ‘Ulá (23.7 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

MeasureAlUlaJohannesburg
Official languageArabicEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign Language
CurrencySaudi Riyal (SAR)Rand (ZAR)
SocketsG60 HzCMN230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+2
Emergency number112 or 911112
Elevation692 m1,753 m
Main airportAl-Ula International Airport (ULH)24 km from centre8 non-stop destinationsO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlUlaJohannesburg
City population32,4134,803,262
People per km²-2,922
Museums within 10 km214
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow AlUla 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.