VacationSelector
The Römer, the old city hall, Frankfurt
FrankfurtThe Römer, the old city hall
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower

Photos: Frankfurt by Thomas Wolf, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, cropped; Johannesburg by K, Pexels License.

Frankfurt 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 Frankfurt for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • wellness

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

Choose Johannesburg for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

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. Frankfurt 8, Johannesburg 5: Frankfurt leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Frankfurt 52, Johannesburg 58: Johannesburg leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Frankfurt 60, Johannesburg 56: Frankfurt leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Frankfurt 52, Johannesburg 62: Johannesburg leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Frankfurt 58, Johannesburg 55: Frankfurt leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Frankfurt 86, Johannesburg 52: Frankfurt leads by 34 points.
Good for families. Frankfurt 62, Johannesburg 42: Frankfurt leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Frankfurt 78, Johannesburg 18: Frankfurt leads by 60 points.
Shopping & style. Frankfurt 56, Johannesburg 58: Johannesburg leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Frankfurt 38, Johannesburg 72: Johannesburg leads by 34 points.
Live music & performing arts. Frankfurt 68, Johannesburg 55: Frankfurt leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Frankfurt 52, Johannesburg 28: Frankfurt leads by 24 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Frankfurt and Johannesburg.

Your match

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

Frankfurt
Best match
56match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Johannesburg
47match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Frankfurt in July

26 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
68 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Johannesburg in July

19 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
FrankfurtJohannesburg

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Frankfurt: 1991-2020 normals, Frankfurt Westend (2 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

MeasureFrankfurtJohannesburg
Official languageGermanEnglish, 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+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+2
Emergency number112112
Elevation101 m1,753 m
Main airportFrankfurt Main Airport (FRA)13 km from centre281 non-stop destinationsO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureFrankfurtJohannesburg
City population760,6564,803,262
People per km²3,0632,922
Museums within 10 km5314
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km42

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Frankfurt 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. 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.