VacationSelector
Bryggen across Vågen, Bergen
BergenBryggen across Vågen
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower

Photos: Bergen by Abdullah Guc, Pexels License; Johannesburg by K, Pexels License.

Bergen 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 Bergen for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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

Choose Johannesburg for

  • prices
  • shopping
  • nightlife

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. Bergen 20, Johannesburg 5: Bergen leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Bergen 47, Johannesburg 58: Johannesburg leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Bergen 55, Johannesburg 56: Johannesburg leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Bergen 40, Johannesburg 62: Johannesburg leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bergen 88, Johannesburg 55: Bergen leads by 33 points.
Day trips. Bergen 38, Johannesburg 52: Johannesburg leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Bergen 60, Johannesburg 42: Bergen leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Bergen 74, Johannesburg 18: Bergen leads by 56 points.
Shopping & style. Bergen 33, Johannesburg 58: Johannesburg leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Bergen 12, Johannesburg 72: Johannesburg leads by 60 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bergen 58, Johannesburg 55: Bergen leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bergen 32, Johannesburg 28: Bergen leads by 4 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bergen and Johannesburg.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Bergen
46match

Wins on getting around and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Johannesburg
47match

Wins on prices 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.

Bergen in July

20 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
159 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 °Csea
18 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

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
BergenJohannesburg

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bergen: 1991-2020 normals, Bergen / Florida (1.2 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

MeasureBergenJohannesburg
Official languageNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, SámiEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign Language
CurrencyNorwegian Krone (NOK)Rand (ZAR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCMN230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+2
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 113, fire 110112
Elevation5 m1,753 m
Main airportBergen Airport, Flesland (BGO)12 km from centre64 non-stop destinationsO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBergenJohannesburg
City population291,1894,803,262
People per km²3,3392,922
Museums within 10 km3114
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

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