VacationSelector
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower
The church of San Francisco under a blue sky, Quito
QuitoThe church of San Francisco under a blue sky

Photos: Johannesburg by K, Pexels License; Quito by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Johannesburg or Quito?

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
  • shopping
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Quito for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Quito’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 Quito are level on 5.
Food & drink. Johannesburg 58, Quito 54: Johannesburg leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Johannesburg 56, Quito 77: Quito leads by 21 points.
Nightlife. Johannesburg 62, Quito 40: Johannesburg leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Johannesburg 55, Quito 86: Quito leads by 31 points.
Day trips. Johannesburg 52, Quito 55: Quito leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Johannesburg 42, Quito 32: Johannesburg leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Johannesburg 18, Quito 45: Quito leads by 27 points.
Shopping & style. Johannesburg 58, Quito 40: Johannesburg leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Johannesburg 72, Quito 78: Quito leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Johannesburg 55, Quito 38: Johannesburg leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Johannesburg 28, Quito 44: Quito leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Johannesburg and Quito.

Your match

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

Johannesburg
47match

Wins on nightlife and shopping with your weighting.

Quito
Best match
50match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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
11 hdaylight a day

Quito in July

18 °Cdaytime high
5 °Cnight-time low
32 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
JohannesburgQuito

Where the figures come from

Quito's station stands 208 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

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). Quito: 1961-1990 normals, Izobamba-Santa Catalina (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJohannesburgQuito
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign LanguageSpanish, Shuar, Northern Quichua
CurrencyRand (ZAR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCMN230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+2UTC-5
Emergency number112911
Elevation1,753 m2,850 m
Main airportO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinationsMariscal Sucre International Airport (UIO)20 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureJohannesburgQuito
City population4,803,2621,763,275
People per km²2,9224,735
Museums within 10 km1416
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 Quito 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.