VacationSelector
The Burj Al Arab, Dubai
DubaiThe Burj Al Arab
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower

Photos: Dubai by Aleksandar Pasaric, Pexels License; Johannesburg by K, Pexels License.

Dubai 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 Dubai for

  • beaches
  • families
  • getting around

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

Choose Johannesburg for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights

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. Dubai 80, Johannesburg 5: Dubai leads by 75 points.
Food & drink. Dubai 76, Johannesburg 58: Dubai leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Dubai 40, Johannesburg 56: Johannesburg leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Dubai and Johannesburg are level on 62.
Nature & outdoors. Dubai 25, Johannesburg 55: Johannesburg leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Dubai 45, Johannesburg 52: Johannesburg leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Dubai 82, Johannesburg 42: Dubai leads by 40 points.
Getting around. Dubai 42, Johannesburg 18: Dubai leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Dubai 82, Johannesburg 58: Dubai leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Dubai 32, Johannesburg 72: Johannesburg leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Dubai 40, Johannesburg 55: Johannesburg leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Dubai 46, Johannesburg 28: Dubai leads by 18 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Dubai and Johannesburg.

Your match

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

Dubai
Best match
54match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Johannesburg
47match

Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors 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

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°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
DubaiJohannesburg

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Dubai: 1991-2020 normals, Dubai International Airport (3.3 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

MeasureDubaiJohannesburg
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 m1,753 m
Main airportDubai International Airport (DXB)7 km from centre294 non-stop destinationsO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureDubaiJohannesburg
City population3,944,7514,803,262
People per km²-2,922
Museums within 10 km1414
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 Dubai 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.