VacationSelector
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower

Photos: Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License; Johannesburg by K, Pexels License.

Colombo 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 Colombo for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • getting around

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

Choose Johannesburg for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Colombo 55, Johannesburg 5: Colombo leads by 50 points.
Food & drink. Colombo 66, Johannesburg 58: Colombo leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Colombo 45, Johannesburg 56: Johannesburg leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Colombo 35, Johannesburg 62: Johannesburg leads by 27 points.
Nature & outdoors. Colombo 32, Johannesburg 55: Johannesburg leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Colombo 50, Johannesburg 52: Johannesburg leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Colombo 35, Johannesburg 42: Johannesburg leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Colombo 35, Johannesburg 18: Colombo leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Colombo 45, Johannesburg 58: Johannesburg leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Colombo 78, Johannesburg 72: Colombo leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Colombo 30, Johannesburg 55: Johannesburg leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Colombo 48, Johannesburg 28: Colombo leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Colombo and Johannesburg.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Colombo
46match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

Johannesburg
47match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Colombo in July

30 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
128 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Johannesburg in July

19 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ColomboJohannesburg

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 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

MeasureColomboJohannesburg
Official languageTamil, SinhalaEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign Language
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Rand (ZAR)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzCMN230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+2
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110112
Elevation1 m1,753 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureColomboJohannesburg
City population647,5574,803,262
People per km²17,3612,922
Museums within 10 km1014
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Colombo 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.