VacationSelector
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower
The Hofburg and Heldenplatz, Vienna
ViennaThe Hofburg and Heldenplatz

Photos: Johannesburg by K, Pexels License; Vienna by C.Stadler/Bwag, CC BY-SA 3.0 AT, cropped.

Johannesburg or Vienna?

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 Vienna for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Vienna’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, Vienna 27: Vienna leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Johannesburg 58, Vienna 68: Vienna leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Johannesburg 56, Vienna 89: Vienna leads by 33 points.
Nightlife. Johannesburg 62, Vienna 50: Johannesburg leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Johannesburg 55, Vienna 62: Vienna leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Johannesburg 52, Vienna 74: Vienna leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Johannesburg 42, Vienna 77: Vienna leads by 35 points.
Getting around. Johannesburg 18, Vienna 90: Vienna leads by 72 points.
Shopping & style. Johannesburg 58, Vienna 62: Vienna leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Johannesburg 72, Vienna 44: Johannesburg leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Johannesburg 55, Vienna 96: Vienna leads by 41 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Johannesburg 28, Vienna 58: Vienna leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Johannesburg and Vienna.

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.

Vienna
Best match
66match

Wins on getting around and live music and the arts 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

Vienna in July

27 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
78 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
JohannesburgVienna

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). Vienna: 1991-2020 normals, Wien / Hohe Warte (4.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJohannesburgVienna
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign LanguageGerman, Austrian Sign Language
CurrencyRand (ZAR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCMN230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+2UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation1,753 m151 m
Main airportO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinationsVienna International Airport (VIE)18 km from centre202 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureJohannesburgVienna
City population4,803,2622,028,289
People per km²2,9224,890
Museums within 10 km14152
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km23

Where else could you go?

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