VacationSelector
The Campanile, Trinity College, Dublin
DublinThe Campanile, Trinity College
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower

Photos: Dublin by David Kernan, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Johannesburg by K, Pexels License.

Dublin 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 Dublin for

  • getting around
  • beaches
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Dublin’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. Dublin 27, Johannesburg 5: Dublin leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Dublin 50, Johannesburg 58: Johannesburg leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Dublin 64, Johannesburg 56: Dublin leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Dublin and Johannesburg are level on 62.
Nature & outdoors. Dublin 70, Johannesburg 55: Dublin leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Dublin 72, Johannesburg 52: Dublin leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Dublin 57, Johannesburg 42: Dublin leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Dublin 66, Johannesburg 18: Dublin leads by 48 points.
Shopping & style. Dublin 54, Johannesburg 58: Johannesburg leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Dublin 20, Johannesburg 72: Johannesburg leads by 52 points.
Live music & performing arts. Dublin 65, Johannesburg 55: Dublin leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Dublin 25, Johannesburg 28: Johannesburg leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Dublin and Johannesburg.

Your match

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

Dublin
Best match
53match

Wins on getting around and beaches 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.

Dublin in July

20 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
62 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
15 °Csea
17 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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
DublinJohannesburg

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Dublin: 1991-2020 normals, Dublin Airport (9.3 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

MeasureDublinJohannesburg
Official languageEnglish, IrishEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign Language
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Rand (ZAR)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzCMN230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+2
Emergency number112112
Elevation20 m1,753 m
Main airportDublin Airport (DUB)9 km from centre200 non-stop destinationsO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureDublinJohannesburg
City population592,7134,803,262
People per km²5,1542,922
Museums within 10 km4014
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

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