VacationSelector
The skyline and the Rocky Mountains over City Park and Ferril Lake, Denver
DenverThe skyline and the Rocky Mountains over City Park and Ferril Lake
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower

Photos: Denver by Zenhaus, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Johannesburg by K, Pexels License.

Denver 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 Denver for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • getting around

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

Choose Johannesburg for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • 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. Denver and Johannesburg are level on 5.
Food & drink. Denver 54, Johannesburg 58: Johannesburg leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Denver 44, Johannesburg 56: Johannesburg leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Denver 47, Johannesburg 62: Johannesburg leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Denver 84, Johannesburg 55: Denver leads by 29 points.
Day trips. Denver 57, Johannesburg 52: Denver leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Denver 67, Johannesburg 42: Denver leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Denver 40, Johannesburg 18: Denver leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Denver 44, Johannesburg 58: Johannesburg leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Denver 36, Johannesburg 72: Johannesburg leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Denver 66, Johannesburg 55: Denver leads by 11 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Denver 40, Johannesburg 28: Denver leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Denver and Johannesburg.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Denver
49match

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

Johannesburg
47match

Wins on prices 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.

Denver in July

32 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
55 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 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
DenverJohannesburg

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Denver: 1991-2020 normals, Denver / Stapleton International, Co. (11.2 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

MeasureDenverJohannesburg
Official language-English, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign Language
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Rand (ZAR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCMN230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-7, UTC-6 in summerUTC+2
Emergency number911112
Elevation1,609 m1,753 m
Main airportDenver International Airport (DEN)30 km from centre231 non-stop destinationsO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureDenverJohannesburg
City population715,5224,803,262
People per km²1,7832,922
Museums within 10 km2614
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Denver 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). 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.