VacationSelector
Durban
The Elbphilharmonie from the water, Hamburg
HamburgThe Elbphilharmonie from the water

Photos: Hamburg by Wolfgang Weiser, Pexels License.

Durban or Hamburg?

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 Hamburg for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Hamburg’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, Hamburg 28: Durban leads by 52 points.
Food & drink. Durban 60, Hamburg 55: Durban leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Durban 38, Hamburg 62: Hamburg leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Durban 40, Hamburg 76: Hamburg leads by 36 points.
Nature & outdoors. Durban 68, Hamburg 52: Durban leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Durban 38, Hamburg 70: Hamburg leads by 32 points.
Good for families. Durban 60, Hamburg 74: Hamburg leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Durban 20, Hamburg 80: Hamburg leads by 60 points.
Shopping & style. Durban 42, Hamburg 65: Hamburg leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Durban 72, Hamburg 38: Durban leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Durban 40, Hamburg 80: Hamburg leads by 40 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Durban 30, Hamburg 44: Hamburg leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Durban and Hamburg.

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.

Hamburg
Best match
60match

Wins on getting around and live music and the arts 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

Hamburg in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
DurbanHamburg

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Durban: 1991-2020 normals, Durban, Durban International Airport (14.1 km from centre). Hamburg: 1991-2020 normals, Hamburg Airport (9.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDurbanHamburg
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign LanguageGerman
CurrencyRand (ZAR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCMN230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+2UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation22 m6 m
Main airportKing Shaka International Airport (DUR)29 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsHamburg Helmut Schmidt Airport (HAM)9 km from centre120 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureDurbanHamburg
City population595,0611,869,473
People per km²2,6342,476
Museums within 10 km177
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Durban or Hamburg 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.