VacationSelector
The Texas State Capitol under a blue sky, Austin
AustinThe Texas State Capitol under a blue sky
Durban

Photos: Austin by LoneStarMike, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Austin or Durban?

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 Austin for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • day trips

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

Choose Durban for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Durban’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. Austin 30, Durban 80: Durban leads by 50 points.
Food & drink. Austin 66, Durban 60: Austin leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Austin 40, Durban 38: Austin leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Austin 65, Durban 40: Austin leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Austin 57, Durban 68: Durban leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Austin 58, Durban 38: Austin leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Austin 55, Durban 60: Durban leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Austin 30, Durban 20: Austin leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Austin 45, Durban 42: Austin leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Austin 33, Durban 72: Durban leads by 39 points.
Live music & performing arts. Austin 77, Durban 40: Austin leads by 37 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Austin 40, Durban 30: Austin leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Austin and Durban.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Austin
50match

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

Durban
49match

Wins on beaches 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.

Austin in July

36 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
49 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Durban in July

23 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
44 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
22 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AustinDurban

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Austin: 1991-2020 normals, Camp Mabry/Austin City Asos (3.7 km from centre). Durban: 1991-2020 normals, Durban, Durban International Airport (14.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAustinDurban
Official language-English, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign Language
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Rand (ZAR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCMN230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+2
Emergency number911112
Elevation149 m22 m
Main airportAustin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)13 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsKing Shaka International Airport (DUR)29 km from centre13 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAustinDurban
City population961,855595,061
People per km²1,2172,634
Museums within 10 km211
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

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