VacationSelector
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower
The Croatian National Theatre, Zagreb
ZagrebThe Croatian National Theatre

Photos: Johannesburg by K, Pexels License; Zagreb by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Johannesburg or Zagreb?

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

  • shopping
  • nightlife
  • prices

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

Choose Zagreb for

  • getting around
  • families
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Zagreb’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, Zagreb 10: Zagreb leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Johannesburg 58, Zagreb 55: Johannesburg leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Johannesburg and Zagreb are level on 56.
Nightlife. Johannesburg 62, Zagreb 47: Johannesburg leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Johannesburg 55, Zagreb 62: Zagreb leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Johannesburg 52, Zagreb 60: Zagreb leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Johannesburg 42, Zagreb 52: Zagreb leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Johannesburg 18, Zagreb 70: Zagreb leads by 52 points.
Shopping & style. Johannesburg 58, Zagreb 40: Johannesburg leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Johannesburg 72, Zagreb 60: Johannesburg leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Johannesburg 55, Zagreb 52: Johannesburg leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Johannesburg 28, Zagreb 33: Zagreb leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Johannesburg and Zagreb.

Your match

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

Johannesburg
47match

Wins on shopping and nightlife with your weighting.

Zagreb
Best match
50match

Wins on getting around 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

Zagreb in July

29 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
JohannesburgZagreb

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). Zagreb: 1991-2020 normals, Zagreb / Gric (0.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJohannesburgZagreb
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign LanguageCroatian
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 m127 m
Main airportO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinationsZagreb Franjo Tuđman International Airport (ZAG)11 km from centre64 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureJohannesburgZagreb
City population4,803,262767,131
People per km²2,922-
Museums within 10 km1427
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 Zagreb 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.