VacationSelector
The Hôtel du Palais, Biarritz
BiarritzThe Hôtel du Palais
Durban

Photos: Biarritz by Lilipiapia, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Biarritz 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 Biarritz for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • wellness

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

Choose Durban for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • culture and sights

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. Biarritz 68, Durban 80: Durban leads by 12 points.
Food & drink. Biarritz 62, Durban 60: Biarritz leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Biarritz 33, Durban 38: Durban leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Biarritz 36, Durban 40: Durban leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Biarritz 74, Durban 68: Biarritz leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Biarritz 80, Durban 38: Biarritz leads by 42 points.
Good for families. Biarritz 62, Durban 60: Biarritz leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Biarritz 58, Durban 20: Biarritz leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Biarritz and Durban are level on 42.
Affordability. Biarritz 30, Durban 72: Durban leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Biarritz 38, Durban 40: Durban leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Biarritz 64, Durban 30: Biarritz leads by 34 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Biarritz and Durban.

Your match

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

Biarritz
Best match
54match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

Durban
49match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Biarritz in July

24 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
97 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
BiarritzDurban

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Biarritz: 1999-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Biarritz (2.5 km from centre). Durban: 1991-2020 normals, Durban, Durban International Airport (14.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBiarritzDurban
Official languageFrenchEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign Language
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Rand (ZAR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCMN230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+2
Emergency number112112
Elevation0 m22 m
Main airportBiarritz Pays Basque airport (BIQ)3 km from centre25 non-stop destinationsKing Shaka International Airport (DUR)29 km from centre13 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBiarritzDurban
City population26,206595,061
People per km²2,2402,634
Museums within 10 km81
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months12 months

Where else could you go?

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