VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Johannesburg by K, Pexels License.

Amsterdam 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 Amsterdam for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • families

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

Choose Johannesburg for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Amsterdam 25, Johannesburg 5: Amsterdam leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam and Johannesburg are level on 58.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Johannesburg 56: Amsterdam leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Johannesburg 62: Amsterdam leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Johannesburg 55: Johannesburg leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Johannesburg 52: Amsterdam leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Johannesburg 42: Amsterdam leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Johannesburg 18: Amsterdam leads by 68 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Johannesburg 58: Amsterdam leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Johannesburg 72: Johannesburg leads by 50 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Johannesburg 55: Amsterdam leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, Johannesburg 28: Amsterdam leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amsterdam and Johannesburg.

Your match

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

Amsterdam
Best match
62match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Johannesburg
47match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Amsterdam in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
84 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
16 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
AmsterdamJohannesburg

Where the figures come from

Amsterdam 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.

Amsterdam's sunshine is measured 35 km from the centre, at De Bilt.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Amsterdam: 1991-2020 normals, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (12 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

MeasureAmsterdamJohannesburg
Official languageDutchEnglish, 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
Elevation-2 m1,753 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamJohannesburg
City population921,4684,803,262
People per km²4,2082,922
Museums within 10 km10114
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km52
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Amsterdam 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.