VacationSelector
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower
The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
San FranciscoThe Golden Gate Bridge

Photos: Johannesburg by K, Pexels License; San Francisco by Elijah Cobb, Pexels License.

Johannesburg or San Francisco?

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
  • nightlife

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

Choose San Francisco for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on San Francisco’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, San Francisco 25: San Francisco leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Johannesburg 58, San Francisco 82: San Francisco leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Johannesburg 56, San Francisco 68: San Francisco leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Johannesburg 62, San Francisco 58: Johannesburg leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Johannesburg 55, San Francisco 80: San Francisco leads by 25 points.
Day trips. Johannesburg 52, San Francisco 72: San Francisco leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Johannesburg 42, San Francisco 66: San Francisco leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Johannesburg 18, San Francisco 70: San Francisco leads by 52 points.
Shopping & style. Johannesburg and San Francisco are level on 58.
Affordability. Johannesburg 72, San Francisco 14: Johannesburg leads by 58 points.
Live music & performing arts. Johannesburg 55, San Francisco 76: San Francisco leads by 21 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Johannesburg 28, San Francisco 42: San Francisco leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Johannesburg and San Francisco.

Your match

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

Johannesburg
47match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

San Francisco
Best match
59match

Wins on getting around 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

San Francisco in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
13 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
JohannesburgSan Francisco

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). San Francisco: 1981-2010 normals, Alameda Naval Air Station (9.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJohannesburgSan Francisco
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-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation1,753 m16 m
Main airportO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinationsSan Francisco International Airport (SFO)18 km from centre142 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureJohannesburgSan Francisco
City population4,803,262873,965
People per km²2,9221,455
Museums within 10 km1451
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
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 San Francisco 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.