VacationSelector
Lion's Head above Clifton Beach, Cape Town
Cape TownLion's Head above Clifton Beach
India Gate behind its flower beds, Delhi
DelhiIndia Gate behind its flower beds

Photos: Cape Town by Stephan Louis, Pexels License; Delhi by shalender kumar, Pexels License.

Cape Town or Delhi?

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 Cape Town for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • families

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

Choose Delhi for

  • shopping
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Delhi’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. Cape Town 58, Delhi 4: Cape Town leads by 54 points.
Food & drink. Cape Town 72, Delhi 84: Delhi leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Cape Town 60, Delhi 85: Delhi leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Cape Town 60, Delhi 44: Cape Town leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cape Town 98, Delhi 20: Cape Town leads by 78 points.
Day trips. Cape Town and Delhi are level on 68.
Good for families. Cape Town 58, Delhi 32: Cape Town leads by 26 points.
Getting around. Cape Town 35, Delhi 55: Delhi leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Cape Town 50, Delhi 78: Delhi leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Cape Town 72, Delhi 90: Delhi leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cape Town 52, Delhi 55: Delhi leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cape Town 45, Delhi 25: Cape Town leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cape Town and Delhi.

Your match

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

Cape Town
Best match
61match

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

Delhi
53match

Wins on shopping and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Cape Town in July

18 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
89 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
15 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Delhi in July

36 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
190 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Cape TownDelhi

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cape Town: 1991-2020 normals, Cape Town Airport (17.5 km from centre). Delhi: 1991-2020 normals, New Delhi / Safdarjung (9.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCape TownDelhi
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign LanguageHindi, English
CurrencyRand (ZAR)Indian Rupee (INR)
SocketsCMN230 V, 50 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+2UTC+5:30
Emergency number112108 or 112
Elevation5 m221 m
Main airportCape Town International Airport (CPT)18 km from centre45 non-stop destinationsIndira Gandhi International Airport (DEL)17 km from centre144 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureCape TownDelhi
City population3,776,31326,495,000
People per km²1,53818,962
Museums within 10 km2223
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km34
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cape Town or Delhi 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.