VacationSelector
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower
The Assembly Hall on Temple Square, Salt Lake City
Salt Lake CityThe Assembly Hall on Temple Square

Photos: Johannesburg by K, Pexels License; Salt Lake City by hakkun, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Johannesburg or Salt Lake City?

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
  • prices
  • shopping

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

Choose Salt Lake City for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Salt Lake City’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, Salt Lake City 12: Salt Lake City leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Johannesburg 58, Salt Lake City 40: Johannesburg leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Johannesburg 56, Salt Lake City 42: Johannesburg leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Johannesburg 62, Salt Lake City 30: Johannesburg leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Johannesburg 55, Salt Lake City 90: Salt Lake City leads by 35 points.
Day trips. Johannesburg 52, Salt Lake City 34: Johannesburg leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Johannesburg 42, Salt Lake City 72: Salt Lake City leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Johannesburg 18, Salt Lake City 42: Salt Lake City leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Johannesburg 58, Salt Lake City 36: Johannesburg leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Johannesburg 72, Salt Lake City 40: Johannesburg leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Johannesburg and Salt Lake City are level on 55.
Wellness & relaxation. Johannesburg 28, Salt Lake City 38: Salt Lake City leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Johannesburg and Salt Lake City.

Your match

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

Johannesburg
Best match
47match

Wins on nightlife and prices with your weighting.

Salt Lake City
44match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and families 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

Salt Lake City in July

34 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
JohannesburgSalt Lake City

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). Salt Lake City: 1991-2020 normals, Salt Lake City International Airport (7.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJohannesburgSalt Lake City
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign Language-
CurrencyRand (ZAR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCMN230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+2UTC-7, UTC-6 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation1,753 m1,288 m
Main airportO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinationsSalt Lake City International Airport (SLC)9 km from centre108 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureJohannesburgSalt Lake City
City population4,803,262199,723
People per km²2,922690
Museums within 10 km1412
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20

Where else could you go?

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