VacationSelector
The Burj Al Arab, Dubai
DubaiThe Burj Al Arab
Durban

Photos: Dubai by Aleksandar Pasaric, Pexels License.

Dubai 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 Dubai for

  • shopping
  • nightlife
  • families

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

Choose Durban for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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. Dubai and Durban are level on 80.
Food & drink. Dubai 76, Durban 60: Dubai leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Dubai 40, Durban 38: Dubai leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Dubai 62, Durban 40: Dubai leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Dubai 25, Durban 68: Durban leads by 43 points.
Day trips. Dubai 45, Durban 38: Dubai leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Dubai 82, Durban 60: Dubai leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Dubai 42, Durban 20: Dubai leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Dubai 82, Durban 42: Dubai leads by 40 points.
Affordability. Dubai 32, Durban 72: Durban leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Dubai and Durban are level on 40.
Wellness & relaxation. Dubai 46, Durban 30: Dubai leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Dubai and Durban.

Your match

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

Dubai
Best match
54match

Wins on shopping and nightlife with your weighting.

Durban
49match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Dubai in July

42 °Cdaytime high
33 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
33 °Csea
14 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°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
DubaiDurban

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Dubai: 1991-2020 normals, Dubai International Airport (3.3 km from centre). Durban: 1991-2020 normals, Durban, Durban International Airport (14.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDubaiDurban
Official languageArabicEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign Language
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Rand (ZAR)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzCMN230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+2
Emergency number112112
Elevation0 m22 m
Main airportDubai International Airport (DXB)7 km from centre294 non-stop destinationsKing Shaka International Airport (DUR)29 km from centre13 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureDubaiDurban
City population3,944,751595,061
People per km²-2,634
Museums within 10 km141
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

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