VacationSelector
Durban
Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo
TokyoShibuya Crossing

Photos: Tokyo by Benh LIEU SONG, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Durban or Tokyo?

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

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

Choose Tokyo for

  • getting around
  • shopping
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Tokyo’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, Tokyo 40: Durban leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Durban 60, Tokyo 98: Tokyo leads by 38 points.
Culture & sights. Durban 38, Tokyo 84: Tokyo leads by 46 points.
Nightlife. Durban 40, Tokyo 86: Tokyo leads by 46 points.
Nature & outdoors. Durban and Tokyo are level on 68.
Day trips. Durban 38, Tokyo 85: Tokyo leads by 47 points.
Good for families. Durban 60, Tokyo 95: Tokyo leads by 35 points.
Getting around. Durban 20, Tokyo 98: Tokyo leads by 78 points.
Shopping & style. Durban 42, Tokyo 99: Tokyo leads by 57 points.
Affordability. Durban 72, Tokyo 48: Durban leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Durban 40, Tokyo 86: Tokyo leads by 46 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Durban 30, Tokyo 78: Tokyo leads by 48 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Durban and Tokyo.

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.

Tokyo
Best match
80match

Wins on getting around 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

Tokyo in July

30 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
157 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
23 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
DurbanTokyo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Durban: 1991-2020 normals, Durban, Durban International Airport (14.1 km from centre). Tokyo: 1991-2020 normals, Tokyo (3.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDurbanTokyo
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 m6 m
Main airportKing Shaka International Airport (DUR)29 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsTokyo Haneda International Airport (HND)18 km from centre98 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureDurbanTokyo
City population595,06114,264,798
People per km²2,6346,501
Museums within 10 km1192
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months4 months

Where else could you go?

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