VacationSelector
The pyramids of Giza, Cairo
CairoThe pyramids of Giza
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower

Photos: Cairo by Ricardo Liberato, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Johannesburg by K, Pexels License.

Cairo 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 Cairo for

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • getting around

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

Choose Johannesburg for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife
  • wellness

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. Cairo 10, Johannesburg 5: Cairo leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Cairo 60, Johannesburg 58: Cairo leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Cairo 96, Johannesburg 56: Cairo leads by 40 points.
Nightlife. Cairo 48, Johannesburg 62: Johannesburg leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cairo 30, Johannesburg 55: Johannesburg leads by 25 points.
Day trips. Cairo 66, Johannesburg 52: Cairo leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Cairo 32, Johannesburg 42: Johannesburg leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Cairo 35, Johannesburg 18: Cairo leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Cairo and Johannesburg are level on 58.
Affordability. Cairo 95, Johannesburg 72: Cairo leads by 23 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cairo 50, Johannesburg 55: Johannesburg leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cairo 15, Johannesburg 28: Johannesburg leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cairo and Johannesburg.

Your match

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

Cairo
Best match
50match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Johannesburg
47match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and nightlife 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
14 hdaylight a day

Johannesburg in July

19 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
CairoJohannesburg

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cairo: 1991-2020 normals, Helwan (21.9 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

MeasureCairoJohannesburg
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 m1,753 m
Main airportCairo International Airport (CAI)17 km from centre127 non-stop destinationsO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureCairoJohannesburg
City population9,801,5364,803,262
People per km²18,5642,922
Museums within 10 km4814
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22

Where else could you go?

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