VacationSelector
Durban
Palms on Waikiki Beach, Honolulu
HonoluluPalms on Waikiki Beach

Photos: Honolulu by Jess Loiterton, Pexels License.

Durban or Honolulu?

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

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

Choose Honolulu for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Honolulu’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, Honolulu 91: Honolulu leads by 11 points.
Food & drink. Durban 60, Honolulu 70: Honolulu leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Durban 38, Honolulu 55: Honolulu leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. Durban 40, Honolulu 45: Honolulu leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Durban 68, Honolulu 88: Honolulu leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Durban and Honolulu are level on 38.
Good for families. Durban 60, Honolulu 80: Honolulu leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Durban 20, Honolulu 52: Honolulu leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Durban 42, Honolulu 60: Honolulu leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Durban 72, Honolulu 15: Durban leads by 57 points.
Live music & performing arts. Durban and Honolulu are level on 40.
Wellness & relaxation. Durban 30, Honolulu 50: Honolulu leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Durban and Honolulu.

Your match

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

Durban
49match

Wins on prices with your weighting.

Honolulu
Best match
57match

Wins on getting around and nature and the outdoors 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

Honolulu in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
26 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
DurbanHonolulu

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Durban: 1991-2020 normals, Durban, Durban International Airport (14.1 km from centre). Honolulu: 1991-2020 normals, Honolulu International Airport (10.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDurbanHonolulu
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-10
Emergency number112911
Elevation22 m12 m
Main airportKing Shaka International Airport (DUR)29 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsDaniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)7 km from centre56 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureDurbanHonolulu
City population595,061350,964
People per km²2,6341,981
Museums within 10 km112
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 Honolulu 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.