VacationSelector
Durban
The Old Town Clock on Citadel Hill, Halifax
HalifaxThe Old Town Clock on Citadel Hill

Photos: Halifax by Danieljmacdonald, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Durban or Halifax?

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
  • food and drink

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

Choose Halifax for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Halifax’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, Halifax 32: Durban leads by 48 points.
Food & drink. Durban 60, Halifax 50: Durban leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Durban 38, Halifax 42: Halifax leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Durban 40, Halifax 46: Halifax leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Durban 68, Halifax 62: Durban leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Durban 38, Halifax 63: Halifax leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Durban 60, Halifax 55: Durban leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Durban 20, Halifax 48: Halifax leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Durban 42, Halifax 35: Durban leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Durban 72, Halifax 38: Durban leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Durban 40, Halifax 46: Halifax leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Durban 30, Halifax 28: Durban leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Durban and Halifax.

Your match

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

Durban
Best match
49match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Halifax
45match

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

Halifax in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
101 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
14 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
DurbanHalifax

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Durban: 1991-2020 normals, Durban, Durban International Airport (14.1 km from centre). Halifax: 1991-2020 normals, Shearwater Airport (6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDurbanHalifax
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign LanguageFrench, English
CurrencyRand (ZAR)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsCMN230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+2UTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation22 m28 m
Main airportKing Shaka International Airport (DUR)29 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsHalifax / Stanfield International Airport (YHZ)26 km from centre40 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureDurbanHalifax
City population595,061440,072
People per km²2,63480
Museums within 10 km115
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

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