VacationSelector
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower
Rathausquai on the Reuss, Lucerne
LucerneRathausquai on the Reuss

Photos: Johannesburg by K, Pexels License; Lucerne by ILOVESwitzerland, Pexels License.

Johannesburg or Lucerne?

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
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

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

Choose Lucerne for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Lucerne’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, Lucerne 35: Lucerne leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Johannesburg 58, Lucerne 35: Johannesburg leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Johannesburg 56, Lucerne 58: Lucerne leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Johannesburg 62, Lucerne 28: Johannesburg leads by 34 points.
Nature & outdoors. Johannesburg 55, Lucerne 92: Lucerne leads by 37 points.
Day trips. Johannesburg 52, Lucerne 78: Lucerne leads by 26 points.
Good for families. Johannesburg 42, Lucerne 66: Lucerne leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Johannesburg 18, Lucerne 86: Lucerne leads by 68 points.
Shopping & style. Johannesburg 58, Lucerne 46: Johannesburg leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Johannesburg 72, Lucerne 8: Johannesburg leads by 64 points.
Live music & performing arts. Johannesburg 55, Lucerne 66: Lucerne leads by 11 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Johannesburg 28, Lucerne 46: Lucerne leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Johannesburg and Lucerne.

Your match

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

Johannesburg
47match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Lucerne
Best match
54match

Wins on getting around and nature and the outdoors 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

Lucerne in July

24 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
141 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
JohannesburgLucerne

Where the figures come from

Lucerne has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Lucerne's sunshine is measured 42 km from the centre, at Zurich Town / Ville..

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). Lucerne: 2005-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Emmen (4.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJohannesburgLucerne
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign LanguageFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyRand (ZAR)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsCMN230 V, 50 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+2UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation1,753 m436 m
Main airportO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)49 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureJohannesburgLucerne
City population4,803,26286,234
People per km²2,9222,963
Museums within 10 km1414
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 Lucerne 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.