VacationSelector
The Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake, Guilin
GuilinThe Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower

Photos: Guilin by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Johannesburg by K, Pexels License.

Guilin 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 Guilin for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • wellness

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

Choose Johannesburg for

  • nightlife
  • shopping
  • live music and the arts

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. Guilin 8, Johannesburg 5: Guilin leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Guilin 45, Johannesburg 58: Johannesburg leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Guilin 40, Johannesburg 56: Johannesburg leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Guilin 30, Johannesburg 62: Johannesburg leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Guilin 88, Johannesburg 55: Guilin leads by 33 points.
Day trips. Guilin 56, Johannesburg 52: Guilin leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Guilin 45, Johannesburg 42: Guilin leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Guilin 45, Johannesburg 18: Guilin leads by 27 points.
Shopping & style. Guilin 28, Johannesburg 58: Johannesburg leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Guilin 78, Johannesburg 72: Guilin leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Guilin 30, Johannesburg 55: Johannesburg leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Guilin 40, Johannesburg 28: Guilin leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Guilin and Johannesburg.

Your match

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

Guilin
44match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around with your weighting.

Johannesburg
Best match
47match

Wins on nightlife 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.

Guilin in July

33 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
248 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
14 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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
GuilinJohannesburg

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Guilin: 1991-2020 normals, Guilin (7.6 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

MeasureGuilinJohannesburg
Official languagePutonghuaEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign Language
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Rand (ZAR)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzCMN230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+2
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119112
Elevation153 m1,753 m
Main airportGuilin Liangjiang International Airport (KWL)25 km from centre43 non-stop destinationsO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureGuilinJohannesburg
City population4,931,1374,803,262
People per km²-2,922
Museums within 10 km114
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12

Where else could you go?

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