VacationSelector
Durban
The skyline and yachts on the canals, Fort Lauderdale
Fort LauderdaleThe skyline and yachts on the canals

Photos: Fort Lauderdale by KeanoManu, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Durban or Fort Lauderdale?

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 Durban for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Fort Lauderdale for

  • day trips
  • nightlife
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Fort Lauderdale’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. Durban 80, Fort Lauderdale 88: Fort Lauderdale leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Durban 60, Fort Lauderdale 47: Durban leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Durban 38, Fort Lauderdale 28: Durban leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Durban 40, Fort Lauderdale 52: Fort Lauderdale leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Durban 68, Fort Lauderdale 62: Durban leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Durban 38, Fort Lauderdale 58: Fort Lauderdale leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Durban 60, Fort Lauderdale 66: Fort Lauderdale leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Durban 20, Fort Lauderdale 32: Fort Lauderdale leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Durban 42, Fort Lauderdale 52: Fort Lauderdale leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Durban 72, Fort Lauderdale 32: Durban leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Durban 40, Fort Lauderdale 42: Fort Lauderdale leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Durban 30, Fort Lauderdale 40: Fort Lauderdale leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Durban and Fort Lauderdale.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Durban
49match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Fort Lauderdale
50match

Wins on day trips 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.

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

Fort Lauderdale in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
166 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
DurbanFort Lauderdale

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Durban: 1991-2020 normals, Durban, Durban International Airport (14.1 km from centre). Fort Lauderdale: 1991-2020 normals, Fort Lauderdale (7.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDurbanFort Lauderdale
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign Language-
CurrencyRand (ZAR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCMN230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+2UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation22 m11 m
Main airportKing Shaka International Airport (DUR)29 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsFort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL)7 km from centre136 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureDurbanFort Lauderdale
City population595,061182,760
People per km²2,6341,829
Museums within 10 km16
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Durban or Fort Lauderdale 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). 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.