VacationSelector
Durban
Vine rows before the snow-capped Andes in the Uco Valley, Mendoza
MendozaVine rows before the snow-capped Andes in the Uco Valley

Photos: Mendoza by David, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Durban or Mendoza?

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
  • prices

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

Choose Mendoza for

  • getting around
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Mendoza’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, Mendoza 6: Durban leads by 74 points.
Food & drink. Durban 60, Mendoza 68: Mendoza leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Durban 38, Mendoza 30: Durban leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Durban and Mendoza are level on 40.
Nature & outdoors. Durban 68, Mendoza 83: Mendoza leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Durban 38, Mendoza 52: Mendoza leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Durban 60, Mendoza 42: Durban leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Durban 20, Mendoza 48: Mendoza leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Durban 42, Mendoza 33: Durban leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Durban 72, Mendoza 56: Durban leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Durban 40, Mendoza 33: Durban leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Durban 30, Mendoza 55: Mendoza leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Durban and Mendoza.

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 families with your weighting.

Mendoza
46match

Wins on getting around and wellness 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

Mendoza in July

15 °Cdaytime high
2 °Cnight-time low
5 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
DurbanMendoza

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Durban: 1991-2020 normals, Durban, Durban International Airport (14.1 km from centre). Mendoza: 1991-2020 normals, Mendoza Aerodrome (8.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDurbanMendoza
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign LanguageSpanish
CurrencyRand (ZAR)Argentine Peso (ARS)
SocketsCMN230 V, 50 HzCI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+2UTC-3
Emergency number112117 or 911
Elevation22 m769 m
Main airportKing Shaka International Airport (DUR)29 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsGovernor Francisco Gabrielli International Airport (MDZ)8 km from centre5 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureDurbanMendoza
City population595,061127,160
People per km²2,6342,355
Museums within 10 km11
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Mendoza 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.