VacationSelector
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower
The Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo, Mexico City
Mexico CityThe Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo

Photos: Johannesburg by K, Pexels License; Mexico City by Oscar Dominguez, Pexels License.

Johannesburg or Mexico City?

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

  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Mexico City for

  • food and drink
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Mexico City’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 and Mexico City are level on 5.
Food & drink. Johannesburg 58, Mexico City 90: Mexico City leads by 32 points.
Culture & sights. Johannesburg 56, Mexico City 88: Mexico City leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. Johannesburg 62, Mexico City 80: Mexico City leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Johannesburg 55, Mexico City 50: Johannesburg leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Johannesburg 52, Mexico City 75: Mexico City leads by 23 points.
Good for families. Johannesburg 42, Mexico City 58: Mexico City leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Johannesburg 18, Mexico City 50: Mexico City leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Johannesburg 58, Mexico City 76: Mexico City leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Johannesburg 72, Mexico City 75: Mexico City leads by 3 points.
Live music & performing arts. Johannesburg 55, Mexico City 72: Mexico City leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Johannesburg 28, Mexico City 40: Mexico City leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Johannesburg and Mexico City.

Your match

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

Johannesburg
47match

Wins on nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Mexico City
Best match
63match

Wins on food and drink and culture and sights 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

Mexico City in July

25 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
176 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
JohannesburgMexico City

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). Mexico City: 1991-2020 normals, Mexico Central, D. F. (7.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJohannesburgMexico City
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign LanguageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyRand (ZAR)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsCMN230 V, 50 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+2UTC-6
Emergency number112911
Elevation1,753 m2,240 m
Main airportO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinationsMexico City Benito Juárez International Airport (MEX)7 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureJohannesburgMexico City
City population4,803,2629,209,944
People per km²2,9226,202
Museums within 10 km14108
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km26

Where else could you go?

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