VacationSelector
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower
Swayambhunath with its prayer flags, Kathmandu
KathmanduSwayambhunath with its prayer flags

Photos: Johannesburg by K, Pexels License; Kathmandu by Nabin K. Sapkota, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Johannesburg or Kathmandu?

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 Johannesburg for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • families

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

Choose Kathmandu for

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Kathmandu’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. Johannesburg 5, Kathmandu 4: Johannesburg leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Johannesburg 58, Kathmandu 55: Johannesburg leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Johannesburg 56, Kathmandu 82: Kathmandu leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Johannesburg 62, Kathmandu 36: Johannesburg leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Johannesburg 55, Kathmandu 70: Kathmandu leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Johannesburg 52, Kathmandu 56: Kathmandu leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Johannesburg 42, Kathmandu 20: Johannesburg leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Johannesburg 18, Kathmandu 25: Kathmandu leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Johannesburg 58, Kathmandu 55: Johannesburg leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Johannesburg 72, Kathmandu 97: Kathmandu leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Johannesburg 55, Kathmandu 28: Johannesburg leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Johannesburg 28, Kathmandu 45: Kathmandu leads by 17 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Johannesburg and Kathmandu.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Johannesburg
47match

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

Kathmandu
48match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Johannesburg in July

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

Kathmandu in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
384 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
JohannesburgKathmandu

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Johannesburg: 2005-2019 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Johannesburg B / Roosevelt Park (7.3 km from centre). Kathmandu: 1991-2020 normals, Kathmandu Airport (4.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJohannesburgKathmandu
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign LanguageNepali
CurrencyRand (ZAR)Nepalese Rupee (NPR)
SocketsCMN230 V, 50 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+2UTC+5:45
Emergency number112Police 100, ambulance 102, fire 101
Elevation1,753 m1,300 m
Main airportO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinationsTribhuvan International Airport (KTM)4 km from centre38 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureJohannesburgKathmandu
City population4,803,262845,767
People per km²2,92217,121
Museums within 10 km149
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Johannesburg or Kathmandu 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.