VacationSelector
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower
Palacio Salvo under a blue sky, Montevideo
MontevideoPalacio Salvo under a blue sky

Photos: Johannesburg by K, Pexels License; Montevideo by Andrés Franchi Ugart…, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Johannesburg or Montevideo?

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
  • shopping
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Montevideo for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Montevideo’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, Montevideo 55: Montevideo leads by 50 points.
Food & drink. Johannesburg 58, Montevideo 57: Johannesburg leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Johannesburg 56, Montevideo 54: Johannesburg leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Johannesburg 62, Montevideo 50: Johannesburg leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Johannesburg 55, Montevideo 34: Johannesburg leads by 21 points.
Day trips. Johannesburg 52, Montevideo 55: Montevideo leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Johannesburg 42, Montevideo 55: Montevideo leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Johannesburg 18, Montevideo 54: Montevideo leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Johannesburg 58, Montevideo 36: Johannesburg leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Johannesburg 72, Montevideo 42: Johannesburg leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Johannesburg 55, Montevideo 57: Montevideo leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Johannesburg 28, Montevideo 38: Montevideo leads by 10 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Johannesburg
47match

Wins on prices and shopping with your weighting.

Montevideo
49match

Wins on beaches and getting around 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
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Montevideo in July

15 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
99 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
11 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
JohannesburgMontevideo

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). Montevideo: 1991-2020 normals, Carrasco (19.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJohannesburgMontevideo
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign Language-
CurrencyRand (ZAR)Peso Uruguayo (UYU)
SocketsCMN230 V, 50 HzCFIL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+2UTC-3
Emergency number112911
Elevation1,753 m41 m
Main airportO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinationsCarrasco General Cesáreo L. Berisso International Airport (MVD)17 km from centre15 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureJohannesburgMontevideo
City population4,803,2621,302,954
People per km²2,9221,785
Museums within 10 km1436
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C-4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Johannesburg or Montevideo 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.