VacationSelector
The cathedral on Plaza de Bolivar, Bogota
BogotaThe cathedral on Plaza de Bolivar
Durban

Photos: Bogota by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Bogota 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 Bogota for

  • nightlife
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Durban for

  • beaches
  • families
  • 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. Bogota 5, Durban 80: Durban leads by 75 points.
Food & drink. Bogota 66, Durban 60: Bogota leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Bogota 68, Durban 38: Bogota leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Bogota 72, Durban 40: Bogota leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bogota 64, Durban 68: Durban leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Bogota 52, Durban 38: Bogota leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Bogota 45, Durban 60: Durban leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Bogota 36, Durban 20: Bogota leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Bogota 52, Durban 42: Bogota leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Bogota 77, Durban 72: Bogota leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bogota 64, Durban 40: Bogota leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bogota 28, Durban 30: Durban leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bogota and Durban.

Your match

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

Bogota
Best match
52match

Wins on nightlife and culture and sights with your weighting.

Durban
49match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Bogota in July

17 °Cdaytime high
10 °Cnight-time low
49 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
12 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

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
BogotaDurban

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bogota: 1991-2020 normals, Bogota / Eldorado (14.1 km from centre). Durban: 1991-2020 normals, Durban, Durban International Airport (14.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBogotaDurban
Official languageSpanishEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign Language
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Rand (ZAR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCMN230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+2
Emergency number123112
Elevation2,582 m22 m
Main airportEl Dorado International Airport (BOG)13 km from centre98 non-stop destinationsKing Shaka International Airport (DUR)29 km from centre13 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBogotaDurban
City population8,034,649595,061
People per km²5,0922,634
Museums within 10 km301
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 Bogota 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). 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.