VacationSelector
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja

Photos: Johannesburg by K, Pexels License; Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License.

Johannesburg or Reykjavik?

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
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Reykjavik for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Reykjavik’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, Reykjavik 12: Reykjavik leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Johannesburg 58, Reykjavik 42: Johannesburg leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Johannesburg 56, Reykjavik 25: Johannesburg leads by 31 points.
Nightlife. Johannesburg 62, Reykjavik 45: Johannesburg leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Johannesburg 55, Reykjavik 92: Reykjavik leads by 37 points.
Day trips. Johannesburg 52, Reykjavik 35: Johannesburg leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Johannesburg 42, Reykjavik 55: Reykjavik leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Johannesburg 18, Reykjavik 55: Reykjavik leads by 37 points.
Shopping & style. Johannesburg 58, Reykjavik 25: Johannesburg leads by 33 points.
Affordability. Johannesburg 72, Reykjavik 6: Johannesburg leads by 66 points.
Live music & performing arts. Johannesburg 55, Reykjavik 45: Johannesburg leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Johannesburg 28, Reykjavik 88: Reykjavik leads by 60 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Johannesburg and Reykjavik.

Your match

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

Johannesburg
Best match
47match

Wins on prices and shopping with your weighting.

Reykjavik
44match

Wins on wellness and nature and the outdoors 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

Reykjavik in July

15 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
50 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
11 °Csea
20 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
JohannesburgReykjavik

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). Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJohannesburgReykjavik
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign LanguageIcelandic
CurrencyRand (ZAR)Iceland Krona (ISK)
SocketsCMN230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+2UTC
Emergency number112112
Elevation1,753 m8 m
Main airportO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinationsKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureJohannesburgReykjavik
City population4,803,262138,772
People per km²2,922569
Museums within 10 km1423
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Johannesburg or Reykjavik 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.