VacationSelector
Philae temple on the Nile, Aswan
AswanPhilae temple on the Nile
Lion's Head above Clifton Beach, Cape Town
Cape TownLion's Head above Clifton Beach

Photos: Aswan by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Cape Town by Stephan Louis, Pexels License.

Aswan or Cape Town?

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 Aswan for

  • prices
  • getting around
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Cape Town for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Cape Town’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. Aswan 10, Cape Town 58: Cape Town leads by 48 points.
Food & drink. Aswan 30, Cape Town 72: Cape Town leads by 42 points.
Culture & sights. Aswan 64, Cape Town 60: Aswan leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Aswan 8, Cape Town 60: Cape Town leads by 52 points.
Nature & outdoors. Aswan 45, Cape Town 98: Cape Town leads by 53 points.
Day trips. Aswan 52, Cape Town 68: Cape Town leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Aswan 32, Cape Town 58: Cape Town leads by 26 points.
Getting around. Aswan 40, Cape Town 35: Aswan leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Aswan 30, Cape Town 50: Cape Town leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Aswan 92, Cape Town 72: Aswan leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Aswan 14, Cape Town 52: Cape Town leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Aswan 40, Cape Town 45: Cape Town leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Aswan and Cape Town.

Your match

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

Aswan
38match

Wins on prices and getting around with your weighting.

Cape Town
Best match
61match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Aswan in July

42 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Cape Town in July

18 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
89 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
15 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
AswanCape Town

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Aswan: 1991-2020 normals, Asswan (18 km from centre). Cape Town: 1991-2020 normals, Cape Town Airport (17.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAswanCape Town
Official languageArabicEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign Language
CurrencyEgyptian Pound (EGP)Rand (ZAR)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzCMN230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+2
Emergency numberPolice 122, ambulance 123, fire 180112
Elevation99 m5 m
Main airportAswan International Airport (ASW)16 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsCape Town International Airport (CPT)18 km from centre45 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAswanCape Town
City population401,8903,776,313
People per km²1,0721,538
Museums within 10 km322
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Aswan or Cape Town 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). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.