VacationSelector
Durban
Camelback Mountain above the city, Scottsdale
ScottsdaleCamelback Mountain above the city

Photos: Scottsdale by Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Durban or Scottsdale?

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
  • food and drink

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

Choose Scottsdale for

  • wellness
  • shopping
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Scottsdale’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, Scottsdale 8: Durban leads by 72 points.
Food & drink. Durban 60, Scottsdale 46: Durban leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Durban and Scottsdale are level on 38.
Nightlife. Durban 40, Scottsdale 52: Scottsdale leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Durban and Scottsdale are level on 68.
Day trips. Durban 38, Scottsdale 50: Scottsdale leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Durban and Scottsdale are level on 60.
Getting around. Durban and Scottsdale are level on 20.
Shopping & style. Durban 42, Scottsdale 60: Scottsdale leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Durban 72, Scottsdale 32: Durban leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Durban and Scottsdale are level on 40.
Wellness & relaxation. Durban 30, Scottsdale 72: Scottsdale leads by 42 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Durban and Scottsdale.

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 prices with your weighting.

Scottsdale
46match

Wins on wellness and shopping 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

Scottsdale in July

41 °Cdaytime high
29 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
DurbanScottsdale

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Durban: 1991-2020 normals, Durban, Durban International Airport (14.1 km from centre). Scottsdale: 1991-2020 normals, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDurbanScottsdale
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign Language-
CurrencyRand (ZAR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCMN230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+2UTC-7
Emergency number112911
Elevation22 m380 m
Main airportKing Shaka International Airport (DUR)29 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)10 km from centre148 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureDurbanScottsdale
City population595,061241,361
People per km²2,634-
Museums within 10 km110
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 Scottsdale 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.