VacationSelector
Durban
The Japanese Covered Bridge, Hoi An
Hoi AnThe Japanese Covered Bridge

Photos: Hoi An by François Guerraz, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Durban or Hoi An?

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

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • beaches

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

Choose Hoi An for

  • wellness
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Hoi An’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, Hoi An 72: Durban leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Durban 60, Hoi An 68: Hoi An leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Durban 38, Hoi An 66: Hoi An leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Durban 40, Hoi An 28: Durban leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Durban 68, Hoi An 63: Durban leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Durban 38, Hoi An 50: Hoi An leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Durban 60, Hoi An 58: Durban leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Durban 20, Hoi An 48: Hoi An leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Durban 42, Hoi An 57: Hoi An leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Durban 72, Hoi An 88: Hoi An leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Durban 40, Hoi An 24: Durban leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Durban 30, Hoi An 65: Hoi An leads by 35 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Durban and Hoi An.

Your match

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

Durban
49match

Wins on live music and the arts and nightlife with your weighting.

Hoi An
Best match
57match

Wins on wellness and culture and sights 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

Hoi An in July

35 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
83 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600800JFMAMJJASOND
DurbanHoi An

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Durban: 1991-2020 normals, Durban, Durban International Airport (14.1 km from centre). Hoi An: 1991-2020 normals, Da Nang (23.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDurbanHoi An
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign LanguageVietnamese
CurrencyRand (ZAR)Dong (VND)
SocketsCMN230 V, 50 HzACFG220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+2UTC+7
Emergency number112Police 113, ambulance 115, fire 114
Elevation22 m13 m
Main airportKing Shaka International Airport (DUR)29 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsDa Nang International Airport (DAD)23 km from centre47 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureDurbanHoi An
City population595,061121,716
People per km²2,634-
Museums within 10 km15
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
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 Hoi An 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.