VacationSelector
The Istiqlal Mosque, Jakarta
JakartaThe Istiqlal Mosque
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower

Photos: Jakarta by Antonyus Bunjamin, Pexels License; Johannesburg by K, Pexels License.

Jakarta 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 Jakarta for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • getting around

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

Choose Johannesburg for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

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. Jakarta 28, Johannesburg 5: Jakarta leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Jakarta 78, Johannesburg 58: Jakarta leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Jakarta 48, Johannesburg 56: Johannesburg leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Jakarta 66, Johannesburg 62: Jakarta leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Jakarta 30, Johannesburg 55: Johannesburg leads by 25 points.
Day trips. Jakarta 45, Johannesburg 52: Johannesburg leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Jakarta 50, Johannesburg 42: Jakarta leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Jakarta 36, Johannesburg 18: Jakarta leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Jakarta 64, Johannesburg 58: Jakarta leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Jakarta 80, Johannesburg 72: Jakarta leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Jakarta 42, Johannesburg 55: Johannesburg leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Jakarta 46, Johannesburg 28: Jakarta leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Jakarta and Johannesburg.

Your match

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

Jakarta
Best match
51match

Wins on beaches and food and drink with your weighting.

Johannesburg
47match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Jakarta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
85 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
12 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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
JakartaJohannesburg

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Jakarta: 1991-2020 normals, Jakarta / Observatory (1.1 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

MeasureJakartaJohannesburg
Official languageIndonesianEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign Language
CurrencyRupiah (IDR)Rand (ZAR)
SocketsCF50 HzCMN230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+2
Emergency number112112
Elevation91 m1,753 m
Main airportSoekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK)20 km from centre89 non-stop destinationsO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureJakartaJohannesburg
City population11,135,1914,803,262
People per km²16,8212,922
Museums within 10 km4414
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Jakarta 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). 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.