VacationSelector
Durban
The cathedral above the old town, Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de CompostelaThe cathedral above the old town

Photos: Santiago de Compostela by Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez (Lmbuga), CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Durban or Santiago de Compostela?

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 Santiago de Compostela for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Santiago de Compostela’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, Santiago de Compostela 32: Durban leads by 48 points.
Food & drink. Durban 60, Santiago de Compostela 68: Santiago de Compostela leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Durban 38, Santiago de Compostela 70: Santiago de Compostela leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. Durban 40, Santiago de Compostela 45: Santiago de Compostela leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Durban 68, Santiago de Compostela 62: Durban leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Durban 38, Santiago de Compostela 72: Santiago de Compostela leads by 34 points.
Good for families. Durban 60, Santiago de Compostela 42: Durban leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Durban 20, Santiago de Compostela 70: Santiago de Compostela leads by 50 points.
Shopping & style. Durban 42, Santiago de Compostela 35: Durban leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Durban 72, Santiago de Compostela 64: Durban leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Durban and Santiago de Compostela are level on 40.
Wellness & relaxation. Durban 30, Santiago de Compostela 42: Santiago de Compostela leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Durban and Santiago de Compostela.

Your match

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

Durban
49match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Santiago de Compostela
Best match
54match

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

Santiago de Compostela in July

25 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
41 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
DurbanSantiago de Compostela

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Durban: 1991-2020 normals, Durban, Durban International Airport (14.1 km from centre). Santiago de Compostela: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago / Labacolla (8.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDurbanSantiago de Compostela
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign LanguageSpanish
CurrencyRand (ZAR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCMN230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+2UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation22 m260 m
Main airportKing Shaka International Airport (DUR)29 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsSantiago-Rosalía de Castro Airport (SCQ)10 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureDurbanSantiago de Compostela
City population595,061100,965
People per km²2,634459
Museums within 10 km16
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Durban or Santiago de Compostela 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.