VacationSelector
Durban
Shitennō-ji temple, Osaka
OsakaShitennō-ji temple

Photos: Osaka by Sarmat Batagov, Pexels License.

Durban or Osaka?

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 Osaka for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Osaka’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, Osaka 34: Durban leads by 46 points.
Food & drink. Durban 60, Osaka 91: Osaka leads by 31 points.
Culture & sights. Durban 38, Osaka 63: Osaka leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Durban 40, Osaka 80: Osaka leads by 40 points.
Nature & outdoors. Durban 68, Osaka 58: Durban leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Durban 38, Osaka 97: Osaka leads by 59 points.
Good for families. Durban 60, Osaka 88: Osaka leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Durban 20, Osaka 90: Osaka leads by 70 points.
Shopping & style. Durban 42, Osaka 80: Osaka leads by 38 points.
Affordability. Durban 72, Osaka 60: Durban leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Durban 40, Osaka 66: Osaka leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Durban 30, Osaka 66: Osaka leads by 36 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Durban and Osaka.

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.

Osaka
Best match
73match

Wins on getting around and day trips 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

Osaka in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
175 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
DurbanOsaka

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Durban: 1991-2020 normals, Durban, Durban International Airport (14.1 km from centre). Osaka: 1991-2020 normals, Osaka (1.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDurbanOsaka
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign LanguageJapanese
CurrencyRand (ZAR)Yen (JPY)
SocketsCMN230 V, 50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+2UTC+9
Emergency number112Police 110, fire 119
Elevation22 m20 m
Main airportKing Shaka International Airport (DUR)29 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsKansai International Airport (KIX)38 km from centre62 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureDurbanOsaka
City population595,0612,751,862
People per km²2,63412,340
Museums within 10 km144
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km16
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Durban or Osaka 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.