VacationSelector
Haedong Yonggungsa temple on the rocks by the sea, Busan
BusanHaedong Yonggungsa temple on the rocks by the sea
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower

Photos: Busan by Andrea De Santis, Pexels License; Johannesburg by K, Pexels License.

Busan 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 Busan for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • wellness

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

Choose Johannesburg for

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

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. Busan 68, Johannesburg 5: Busan leads by 63 points.
Food & drink. Busan 72, Johannesburg 58: Busan leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Busan 52, Johannesburg 56: Johannesburg leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Busan 60, Johannesburg 62: Johannesburg leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Busan 74, Johannesburg 55: Busan leads by 19 points.
Day trips. Busan 74, Johannesburg 52: Busan leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Busan 70, Johannesburg 42: Busan leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Busan 68, Johannesburg 18: Busan leads by 50 points.
Shopping & style. Busan 60, Johannesburg 58: Busan leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Busan 56, Johannesburg 72: Johannesburg leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Busan 42, Johannesburg 55: Johannesburg leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Busan 78, Johannesburg 28: Busan leads by 50 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Busan and Johannesburg.

Your match

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

Busan
Best match
65match

Wins on beaches and getting around with your weighting.

Johannesburg
47match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Busan in July

27 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
352 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
23 °Csea
14 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

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
BusanJohannesburg

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Busan: 1991-2020 normals, Pusan (9.7 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

MeasureBusanJohannesburg
Official languageKorean, Korean Sign LanguageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign Language
CurrencyWon (KRW)Rand (ZAR)
SocketsCF220 V, 60 HzCMN230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+2
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 119, fire 119112
Elevation30 m1,753 m
Main airportGimhae International Airport (PUS)12 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBusanJohannesburg
City population3,453,1984,803,262
People per km²4,4862,922
Museums within 10 km714
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km32
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months-

Where else could you go?

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