VacationSelector
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower
Rowing boats below the ghats in the morning light, Varanasi
VaranasiRowing boats below the ghats in the morning light

Photos: Johannesburg by K, Pexels License; Varanasi by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Johannesburg or Varanasi?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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

Choose Varanasi for

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Varanasi’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, Varanasi 4: Johannesburg leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Johannesburg 58, Varanasi 55: Johannesburg leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Johannesburg 56, Varanasi 80: Varanasi leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Johannesburg 62, Varanasi 10: Johannesburg leads by 52 points.
Nature & outdoors. Johannesburg 55, Varanasi 18: Johannesburg leads by 37 points.
Day trips. Johannesburg 52, Varanasi 42: Johannesburg leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Johannesburg 42, Varanasi 5: Johannesburg leads by 37 points.
Getting around. Johannesburg 18, Varanasi 28: Varanasi leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Johannesburg 58, Varanasi 55: Johannesburg leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Johannesburg 72, Varanasi 92: Varanasi leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Johannesburg 55, Varanasi 58: Varanasi leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Johannesburg 28, Varanasi 30: Varanasi leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Johannesburg and Varanasi.

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 nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Varanasi
40match

Wins on culture and sights and prices 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

Varanasi in July

35 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
249 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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
JohannesburgVaranasi

Where the figures come from

Varanasi has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

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). Varanasi: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureJohannesburgVaranasi
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign LanguageHindi, English
CurrencyRand (ZAR)Indian Rupee (INR)
SocketsCMN230 V, 50 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+2UTC+5:30
Emergency number112108 or 112
Elevation1,753 m76 m
Main airportO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinationsLal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS)21 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureJohannesburgVaranasi
City population4,803,2621,198,491
People per km²2,92214,598
Museums within 10 km142
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 Varanasi 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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.