VacationSelector
The Massachusetts State House, Boston
BostonThe Massachusetts State House
Durban

Photos: Boston by Ajay Suresh, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Boston 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 Boston for

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

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

Choose Durban for

  • prices
  • beaches
  • 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. Boston 35, Durban 80: Durban leads by 45 points.
Food & drink. Boston 64, Durban 60: Boston leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Boston 72, Durban 38: Boston leads by 34 points.
Nightlife. Boston 47, Durban 40: Boston leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Boston 60, Durban 68: Durban leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Boston 72, Durban 38: Boston leads by 34 points.
Good for families. Boston 72, Durban 60: Boston leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Boston 70, Durban 20: Boston leads by 50 points.
Shopping & style. Boston 55, Durban 42: Boston leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Boston 18, Durban 72: Durban leads by 54 points.
Live music & performing arts. Boston 72, Durban 40: Boston leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Boston and Durban are level on 30.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Boston and Durban.

Your match

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

Boston
Best match
56match

Wins on getting around and culture and sights 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.

Boston in July

28 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
18 °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

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
BostonDurban

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Boston: 1991-2020 normals, Boston Logan International (3.5 km from centre). Durban: 1991-2020 normals, Durban, Durban International Airport (14.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBostonDurban
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-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+2
Emergency number911112
Elevation43 m22 m
Main airportBoston Logan International Airport (BOS)4 km from centre144 non-stop destinationsKing Shaka International Airport (DUR)29 km from centre13 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBostonDurban
City population675,647595,061
People per km²2,9102,634
Museums within 10 km511
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone12 months

Where else could you go?

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