VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Johannesburg by K, Pexels License.

Cologne 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 Cologne for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • families

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

Choose Johannesburg for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • shopping

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. Cologne 14, Johannesburg 5: Cologne leads by 9 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Johannesburg 58: Johannesburg leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Johannesburg 56: Cologne leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Johannesburg 62: Cologne leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Johannesburg 55: Cologne leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Johannesburg 52: Cologne leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Johannesburg 42: Cologne leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Johannesburg 18: Cologne leads by 56 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Johannesburg 58: Johannesburg leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Johannesburg 72: Johannesburg leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Johannesburg 55: Cologne leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Johannesburg 28: Cologne leads by 22 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cologne and Johannesburg.

Your match

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

Cologne
Best match
58match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Johannesburg
47match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Cologne in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
81 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
CologneJohannesburg

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 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

MeasureCologneJohannesburg
Official languageGermanEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign Language
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Rand (ZAR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCMN230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+2
Emergency number112112
Elevation59 m1,753 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureCologneJohannesburg
City population1,025,5234,803,262
People per km²2,5322,922
Museums within 10 km4014
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km32

Where else could you go?

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