VacationSelector
A jetty on the lagoon, Faro
FaroA jetty on the lagoon
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower

Photos: Faro by Efrem Efre, Pexels License; Johannesburg by K, Pexels License.

Faro or Johannesburg?

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 Faro for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • families

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

Choose Johannesburg for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Johannesburg’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. Faro 74, Johannesburg 5: Faro leads by 69 points.
Food & drink. Faro 48, Johannesburg 58: Johannesburg leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Faro 35, Johannesburg 56: Johannesburg leads by 21 points.
Nightlife. Faro 32, Johannesburg 62: Johannesburg leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Faro 62, Johannesburg 55: Faro leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Faro 64, Johannesburg 52: Faro leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Faro 60, Johannesburg 42: Faro leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Faro 60, Johannesburg 18: Faro leads by 42 points.
Shopping & style. Faro 35, Johannesburg 58: Johannesburg leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Faro 60, Johannesburg 72: Johannesburg leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Faro 30, Johannesburg 55: Johannesburg leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Faro 33, Johannesburg 28: Faro leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Faro and Johannesburg.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Faro
49match

Wins on beaches and getting around with your weighting.

Johannesburg
47match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Faro in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Johannesburg in July

19 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
FaroJohannesburg

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Faro: 1991-2020 normals, Faro / Aeroporto (2.8 km from centre). Johannesburg: 2005-2019 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Johannesburg B / Roosevelt Park (7.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFaroJohannesburg
Official languagePortugueseEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign Language
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Rand (ZAR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCMN230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+2
Emergency number112112
Elevation10 m1,753 m
Main airportFaro - Gago Coutinho International Airport (FAO)3 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureFaroJohannesburg
City population64,5604,803,262
People per km²3192,922
Museums within 10 km214
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Faro or Johannesburg 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.