VacationSelector
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower
The Gateway of India under a blue sky, Mumbai
MumbaiThe Gateway of India under a blue sky

Photos: Johannesburg by K, Pexels License; Mumbai by Shubam Bhasin, Pexels License.

Johannesburg or Mumbai?

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

  • nightlife
  • families
  • day trips

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

Choose Mumbai for

  • food and drink
  • getting around
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Mumbai’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, Mumbai 18: Mumbai leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. Johannesburg 58, Mumbai 82: Mumbai leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Johannesburg 56, Mumbai 70: Mumbai leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Johannesburg 62, Mumbai 52: Johannesburg leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Johannesburg and Mumbai are level on 55.
Day trips. Johannesburg 52, Mumbai 48: Johannesburg leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Johannesburg 42, Mumbai 35: Johannesburg leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Johannesburg 18, Mumbai 38: Mumbai leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Johannesburg 58, Mumbai 66: Mumbai leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Johannesburg and Mumbai are level on 72.
Live music & performing arts. Johannesburg and Mumbai are level on 55.
Wellness & relaxation. Johannesburg 28, Mumbai 24: Johannesburg leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Johannesburg and Mumbai.

Your match

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

Johannesburg
47match

Wins on nightlife and families with your weighting.

Mumbai
Best match
51match

Wins on food and drink 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

Mumbai in July

31 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
860 mmrain in the month
2 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

02004006008001000JFMAMJJASOND
JohannesburgMumbai

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). Mumbai: 1991-2020 normals, Bombay / Santacruz (5.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJohannesburgMumbai
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign LanguageHindi, English
CurrencyRand (ZAR)Indian Rupee (INR)
SocketsCMN230 V, 50 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+2UTC+5:30
Emergency number112108 or 112
Elevation1,753 m14 m
Main airportO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinationsChhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (BOM)2 km from centre122 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureJohannesburgMumbai
City population4,803,26215,414,288
People per km²2,92225,563
Museums within 10 km141
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km23
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

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