VacationSelector
The pyramids of Giza, Cairo
CairoThe pyramids of Giza
Durban

Photos: Cairo by Ricardo Liberato, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Cairo 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 Cairo for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • prices

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

Choose Durban for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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. Cairo 10, Durban 80: Durban leads by 70 points.
Food & drink. Cairo and Durban are level on 60.
Culture & sights. Cairo 96, Durban 38: Cairo leads by 58 points.
Nightlife. Cairo 48, Durban 40: Cairo leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cairo 30, Durban 68: Durban leads by 38 points.
Day trips. Cairo 66, Durban 38: Cairo leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Cairo 32, Durban 60: Durban leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Cairo 35, Durban 20: Cairo leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Cairo 58, Durban 42: Cairo leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Cairo 95, Durban 72: Cairo leads by 23 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cairo 50, Durban 40: Cairo leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cairo 15, Durban 30: Durban leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cairo and Durban.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Cairo
50match

Wins on culture and sights and day trips with your weighting.

Durban
49match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Cairo in July

36 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
CairoDurban

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cairo: 1991-2020 normals, Helwan (21.9 km from centre). Durban: 1991-2020 normals, Durban, Durban International Airport (14.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCairoDurban
Official languageArabicEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign Language
CurrencyEgyptian Pound (EGP)Rand (ZAR)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzCMN230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+2
Emergency numberPolice 122, ambulance 123, fire 180112
Elevation23 m22 m
Main airportCairo International Airport (CAI)17 km from centre127 non-stop destinationsKing Shaka International Airport (DUR)29 km from centre13 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureCairoDurban
City population9,801,536595,061
People per km²18,5642,634
Museums within 10 km481
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
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 Cairo 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.