VacationSelector
Durban
The red five-storey pagoda of Tocho-ji, Fukuoka
FukuokaThe red five-storey pagoda of Tocho-ji

Photos: Fukuoka by Nick-D, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Durban or Fukuoka?

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

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Fukuoka for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Fukuoka’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, Fukuoka 50: Durban leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Durban 60, Fukuoka 82: Fukuoka leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Durban 38, Fukuoka 50: Fukuoka leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Durban 40, Fukuoka 60: Fukuoka leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Durban 68, Fukuoka 62: Durban leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Durban 38, Fukuoka 84: Fukuoka leads by 46 points.
Good for families. Durban 60, Fukuoka 78: Fukuoka leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Durban 20, Fukuoka 82: Fukuoka leads by 62 points.
Shopping & style. Durban 42, Fukuoka 65: Fukuoka leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Durban 72, Fukuoka 58: Durban leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Durban 40, Fukuoka 45: Fukuoka leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Durban 30, Fukuoka 60: Fukuoka leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Durban and Fukuoka.

Your match

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

Durban
49match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Fukuoka
Best match
65match

Wins on getting around and day trips 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

Fukuoka in July

31 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
301 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
DurbanFukuoka

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Durban: 1991-2020 normals, Durban, Durban International Airport (14.1 km from centre). Fukuoka: 1991-2020 normals, Fukuoka (1.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDurbanFukuoka
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign LanguageJapanese
CurrencyRand (ZAR)Yen (JPY)
SocketsCMN230 V, 50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+2UTC+9
Emergency number112Police 110, fire 119
Elevation22 m8 m
Main airportKing Shaka International Airport (DUR)29 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsFukuoka Airport (FUK)5 km from centre46 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureDurbanFukuoka
City population595,0611,603,043
People per km²2,6344,715
Museums within 10 km123
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Durban or Fukuoka 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.