VacationSelector
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower
Santo Domingo church behind agaves, Oaxaca
OaxacaSanto Domingo church behind agaves

Photos: Johannesburg by K, Pexels License; Oaxaca by Öskr Rck, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Johannesburg or Oaxaca?

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
  • live music and the arts
  • families

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

Choose Oaxaca for

  • getting around
  • food and drink
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Oaxaca’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 Oaxaca are level on 5.
Food & drink. Johannesburg 58, Oaxaca 84: Oaxaca leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Johannesburg 56, Oaxaca 74: Oaxaca leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Johannesburg 62, Oaxaca 40: Johannesburg leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Johannesburg 55, Oaxaca 62: Oaxaca leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Johannesburg 52, Oaxaca 65: Oaxaca leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Johannesburg 42, Oaxaca 40: Johannesburg leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Johannesburg 18, Oaxaca 55: Oaxaca leads by 37 points.
Shopping & style. Johannesburg 58, Oaxaca 62: Oaxaca leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Johannesburg 72, Oaxaca 77: Oaxaca leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Johannesburg 55, Oaxaca 38: Johannesburg leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Johannesburg 28, Oaxaca 50: Oaxaca leads by 22 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Johannesburg
47match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Oaxaca
Best match
54match

Wins on getting around and food and drink 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

Oaxaca in July

28 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
80 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
JohannesburgOaxaca

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). Oaxaca: 1961-1990 normals, Oaxaca, Oax. (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJohannesburgOaxaca
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 m1,555 m
Main airportO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinationsXoxocotlán International Airport (OAX)7 km from centre14 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureJohannesburgOaxaca
City population4,803,262258,913
People per km²2,9223,028
Museums within 10 km1410
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22

Where else could you go?

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