VacationSelector
Durban
Swayambhunath with its prayer flags, Kathmandu
KathmanduSwayambhunath with its prayer flags

Photos: Kathmandu by Nabin K. Sapkota, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Durban or Kathmandu?

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
  • families
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Kathmandu for

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Kathmandu’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, Kathmandu 4: Durban leads by 76 points.
Food & drink. Durban 60, Kathmandu 55: Durban leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Durban 38, Kathmandu 82: Kathmandu leads by 44 points.
Nightlife. Durban 40, Kathmandu 36: Durban leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Durban 68, Kathmandu 70: Kathmandu leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Durban 38, Kathmandu 56: Kathmandu leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Durban 60, Kathmandu 20: Durban leads by 40 points.
Getting around. Durban 20, Kathmandu 25: Kathmandu leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Durban 42, Kathmandu 55: Kathmandu leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Durban 72, Kathmandu 97: Kathmandu leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Durban 40, Kathmandu 28: Durban leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Durban 30, Kathmandu 45: Kathmandu leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Durban and Kathmandu.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Durban
49match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Kathmandu
48match

Wins on culture and sights and prices 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

Kathmandu in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
384 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
DurbanKathmandu

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Durban: 1991-2020 normals, Durban, Durban International Airport (14.1 km from centre). Kathmandu: 1991-2020 normals, Kathmandu Airport (4.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDurbanKathmandu
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign LanguageNepali
CurrencyRand (ZAR)Nepalese Rupee (NPR)
SocketsCMN230 V, 50 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+2UTC+5:45
Emergency number112Police 100, ambulance 102, fire 101
Elevation22 m1,300 m
Main airportKing Shaka International Airport (DUR)29 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsTribhuvan International Airport (KTM)4 km from centre38 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureDurbanKathmandu
City population595,061845,767
People per km²2,63417,121
Museums within 10 km19
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 Kathmandu 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.