VacationSelector
The Turtle Tower in Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi
HanoiThe Turtle Tower in Hoan Kiem Lake
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower

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

Hanoi 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 Hanoi for

  • food and drink
  • prices
  • getting around

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

Choose Johannesburg for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • 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. Hanoi 6, Johannesburg 5: Hanoi leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Hanoi 85, Johannesburg 58: Hanoi leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Hanoi 72, Johannesburg 56: Hanoi leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Hanoi 50, Johannesburg 62: Johannesburg leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hanoi 52, Johannesburg 55: Johannesburg leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Hanoi 58, Johannesburg 52: Hanoi leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Hanoi 35, Johannesburg 42: Johannesburg leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Hanoi 36, Johannesburg 18: Hanoi leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Hanoi 50, Johannesburg 58: Johannesburg leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Hanoi 98, Johannesburg 72: Hanoi leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hanoi 40, Johannesburg 55: Johannesburg leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hanoi 46, Johannesburg 28: Hanoi leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hanoi and Johannesburg.

Your match

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

Hanoi
Best match
52match

Wins on food and drink and prices with your weighting.

Johannesburg
47match

Wins on live music and the arts 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.

Hanoi in July

34 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
311 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
13 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

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
HanoiJohannesburg

Where the figures come from

Hanoi's sunshine is measured 86 km from the centre, at Phu Lien.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Hanoi: 1991-2020 normals, Ha Noi (4.4 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

MeasureHanoiJohannesburg
Official languageVietnameseEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign Language
CurrencyDong (VND)Rand (ZAR)
SocketsACFG220 V, 50 HzCMN230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+2
Emergency numberPolice 113, ambulance 115, fire 114112
Elevation10 m1,753 m
Main airportNoi Bai International Airport (HAN)22 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureHanoiJohannesburg
City population8,717,6004,803,262
People per km²2,5952,922
Museums within 10 km1414
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 Hanoi 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). 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.