VacationSelector
Durban
The Iguazu Falls in the green jungle, Puerto Iguazu
Puerto IguazuThe Iguazu Falls in the green jungle

Photos: Puerto Iguazu by Muhammed Ballan, Pexels License.

Durban or Puerto Iguazu?

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
  • live music and the arts
  • food and drink

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

Choose Puerto Iguazu for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Puerto Iguazu’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, Puerto Iguazu 5: Durban leads by 75 points.
Food & drink. Durban 60, Puerto Iguazu 28: Durban leads by 32 points.
Culture & sights. Durban 38, Puerto Iguazu 9: Durban leads by 29 points.
Nightlife. Durban 40, Puerto Iguazu 14: Durban leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Durban 68, Puerto Iguazu 95: Puerto Iguazu leads by 27 points.
Day trips. Durban 38, Puerto Iguazu 33: Durban leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Durban 60, Puerto Iguazu 55: Durban leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Durban 20, Puerto Iguazu 54: Puerto Iguazu leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Durban 42, Puerto Iguazu 17: Durban leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Durban 72, Puerto Iguazu 48: Durban leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Durban 40, Puerto Iguazu 7: Durban leads by 33 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Durban 30, Puerto Iguazu 34: Puerto Iguazu leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Durban and Puerto Iguazu.

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 live music and the arts with your weighting.

Puerto Iguazu
33match

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

Puerto Iguazu in July

22 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
103 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
DurbanPuerto Iguazu

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Durban: 1991-2020 normals, Durban, Durban International Airport (14.1 km from centre). Puerto Iguazu: 1991-2020 normals, Iguazu Aerodrome (17.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDurbanPuerto Iguazu
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 m162 m
Main airportKing Shaka International Airport (DUR)29 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsCataratas Del Iguazú International Airport (IGR)18 km from centre8 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureDurbanPuerto Iguazu
City population595,06154,903
People per km²2,634-
Museums within 10 km10
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 Puerto Iguazu 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.