VacationSelector
Fort Lovrijenac above the sea, Dubrovnik
DubrovnikFort Lovrijenac above the sea
Durban

Photos: Dubrovnik by Natalia Semenova, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Dubrovnik 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 Dubrovnik for

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

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

Choose Durban for

  • prices
  • shopping
  • live music and the arts

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. Dubrovnik 74, Durban 80: Durban leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Dubrovnik 47, Durban 60: Durban leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Dubrovnik 72, Durban 38: Dubrovnik leads by 34 points.
Nightlife. Dubrovnik 37, Durban 40: Durban leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Dubrovnik 70, Durban 68: Dubrovnik leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Dubrovnik 66, Durban 38: Dubrovnik leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Dubrovnik 50, Durban 60: Durban leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Dubrovnik 60, Durban 20: Dubrovnik leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. Dubrovnik 25, Durban 42: Durban leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Dubrovnik 28, Durban 72: Durban leads by 44 points.
Live music & performing arts. Dubrovnik 25, Durban 40: Durban leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Dubrovnik 32, Durban 30: Dubrovnik leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Dubrovnik and Durban.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Dubrovnik
49match

Wins on getting around and culture and sights with your weighting.

Durban
49match

Wins on prices and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Dubrovnik in July

29 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
29 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
DubrovnikDurban

Where the figures come from

Dubrovnik has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Dubrovnik's sunshine is measured 83 km from the centre, at Mostar.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Dubrovnik: 1999-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Dubrovnik / Cilipi (15.3 km from centre). Durban: 1991-2020 normals, Durban, Durban International Airport (14.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDubrovnikDurban
Official languageCroatianEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign Language
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Rand (ZAR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCMN230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+2
Emergency number112112
Elevation10 m22 m
Main airportDubrovnik Ruđer Bošković Airport (DBV)16 km from centre76 non-stop destinationsKing Shaka International Airport (DUR)29 km from centre13 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureDubrovnikDurban
City population41,562595,061
People per km²-2,634
Museums within 10 km71
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months12 months

Where else could you go?

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