VacationSelector
Durban
Gastown, Vancouver
VancouverGastown

Photos: Vancouver by Xicotencatl, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Durban or Vancouver?

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

  • prices
  • beaches

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

Choose Vancouver for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Vancouver’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, Vancouver 42: Durban leads by 38 points.
Food & drink. Durban 60, Vancouver 72: Vancouver leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Durban 38, Vancouver 42: Vancouver leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Durban 40, Vancouver 42: Vancouver leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Durban 68, Vancouver 97: Vancouver leads by 29 points.
Day trips. Durban 38, Vancouver 45: Vancouver leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Durban 60, Vancouver 72: Vancouver leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Durban 20, Vancouver 73: Vancouver leads by 53 points.
Shopping & style. Durban 42, Vancouver 55: Vancouver leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Durban 72, Vancouver 27: Durban leads by 45 points.
Live music & performing arts. Durban 40, Vancouver 52: Vancouver leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Durban 30, Vancouver 50: Vancouver leads by 20 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Durban and Vancouver.

Your match

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

Durban
49match

Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.

Vancouver
Best match
56match

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

Vancouver in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
42 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
DurbanVancouver

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Durban: 1991-2020 normals, Durban, Durban International Airport (14.1 km from centre). Vancouver: 1991-2020 normals, Vancouver Harbour CS (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDurbanVancouver
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign LanguageFrench, English
CurrencyRand (ZAR)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsCMN230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+2UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation22 m2 m
Main airportKing Shaka International Airport (DUR)29 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsVancouver International Airport (YVR)9 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureDurbanVancouver
City population595,061662,248
People per km²2,6345,759
Museums within 10 km126
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Vancouver 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.