VacationSelector
The Cathedral of Sant'Agata, Catania
CataniaThe Cathedral of Sant'Agata
Durban

Photos: Catania by Berthold Werner, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Catania 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 Catania for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Durban for

  • prices
  • families
  • beaches

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. Catania 72, Durban 80: Durban leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Catania 77, Durban 60: Catania leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Catania 62, Durban 38: Catania leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Catania 60, Durban 40: Catania leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Catania 83, Durban 68: Catania leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Catania 84, Durban 38: Catania leads by 46 points.
Good for families. Catania 50, Durban 60: Durban leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Catania 48, Durban 20: Catania leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Catania and Durban are level on 42.
Affordability. Catania 60, Durban 72: Durban leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Catania 55, Durban 40: Catania leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Catania and Durban are level on 30.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Catania and Durban.

Your match

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

Catania
Best match
60match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

Durban
49match

Wins on prices and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Catania in July

31 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
9 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
CataniaDurban

Where the figures come from

Catania's sunshine is measured 88 km from the centre, at Messina.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Catania: 1991-2020 normals, Catania / Fontanarossa (5.2 km from centre). Durban: 1991-2020 normals, Durban, Durban International Airport (14.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCataniaDurban
Official languageItalianEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign Language
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Rand (ZAR)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzCMN230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+2
Emergency number112112
Elevation7 m22 m
Main airportCatania-Fontanarossa Airport (CTA)4 km from centre96 non-stop destinationsKing Shaka International Airport (DUR)29 km from centre13 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureCataniaDurban
City population311,584595,061
People per km²1,7042,634
Museums within 10 km251
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Catania 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.