VacationSelector
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower
Camelback Mountain above the city, Scottsdale
ScottsdaleCamelback Mountain above the city

Photos: Johannesburg by K, Pexels License; Scottsdale by Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Johannesburg or Scottsdale?

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
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Scottsdale for

  • wellness
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Scottsdale’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, Scottsdale 8: Scottsdale leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Johannesburg 58, Scottsdale 46: Johannesburg leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Johannesburg 56, Scottsdale 38: Johannesburg leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Johannesburg 62, Scottsdale 52: Johannesburg leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Johannesburg 55, Scottsdale 68: Scottsdale leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Johannesburg 52, Scottsdale 50: Johannesburg leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Johannesburg 42, Scottsdale 60: Scottsdale leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Johannesburg 18, Scottsdale 20: Scottsdale leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Johannesburg 58, Scottsdale 60: Scottsdale leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Johannesburg 72, Scottsdale 32: Johannesburg leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Johannesburg 55, Scottsdale 40: Johannesburg leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Johannesburg 28, Scottsdale 72: Scottsdale leads by 44 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Johannesburg
47match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Scottsdale
46match

Wins on wellness 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

Scottsdale in July

41 °Cdaytime high
29 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
JohannesburgScottsdale

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). Scottsdale: 1991-2020 normals, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJohannesburgScottsdale
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
Emergency number112911
Elevation1,753 m380 m
Main airportO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinationsPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)10 km from centre148 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureJohannesburgScottsdale
City population4,803,262241,361
People per km²2,922-
Museums within 10 km1410
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21

Where else could you go?

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