VacationSelector
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower
Big Ben and Westminster Bridge, London
LondonBig Ben and Westminster Bridge

Photos: Johannesburg by K, Pexels License; London by AXP Photography, Pexels License.

Johannesburg or London?

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

  • prices

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

Choose London for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on London’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, London 25: London leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Johannesburg 58, London 84: London leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Johannesburg 56, London 94: London leads by 38 points.
Nightlife. Johannesburg 62, London 88: London leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Johannesburg 55, London 57: London leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Johannesburg 52, London 90: London leads by 38 points.
Good for families. Johannesburg 42, London 82: London leads by 40 points.
Getting around. Johannesburg 18, London 85: London leads by 67 points.
Shopping & style. Johannesburg 58, London 95: London leads by 37 points.
Affordability. Johannesburg 72, London 15: Johannesburg leads by 57 points.
Live music & performing arts. Johannesburg 55, London 98: London leads by 43 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Johannesburg 28, London 40: London leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Johannesburg and London.

Your match

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

Johannesburg
47match

Wins on prices with your weighting.

London
Best match
71match

Wins on getting around 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.

Johannesburg in July

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

London in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
JohannesburgLondon

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). London: 1992-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, London Weather Centre (1.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJohannesburgLondon
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign LanguageEnglish
CurrencyRand (ZAR)Pound Sterling (GBP)
SocketsCMN230 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+2UTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112112 or 999
Elevation1,753 m4 m
Main airportO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinationsLondon Heathrow Airport (LHR)23 km from centre224 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days8 days

By the numbers

MeasureJohannesburgLondon
City population4,803,2628,799,728
People per km²2,9225,598
Museums within 10 km14216
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km24

Where else could you go?

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