Johannesburg or Nairobi?

2,912 km apart, in South Africa and Kenya. Each is scored month by month on the same ten years of climate readings, the public holidays that crowd it, and what the flight costs. This is where they part, and when.

• Johannesburg South Africa · best Aug, Sep, Oct
• Nairobi Kenya · best Feb, Jun, Sep

Month by month

Each cell is that destination's own verdict for the month — sweet spot, ok or avoid — with its typical daily high and its rainy days ("11d"). The pick goes to the better verdict; with the same verdict, to the higher score, unless the two are within a whisker of each other, when it is either. A month both would avoid is neither. A dot marks a busy month.

Before you go

• Cost of living — Johannesburg: cheap, about 41% of the United States; Nairobi: very cheap, about 34% of the United States.
• Currency — Johannesburg: Rand; Nairobi: Kenyan shilling.
• Plugs — Johannesburg: type C and D, 230 V; Nairobi: type G, 240 V.
• Driving — Johannesburg: on the left; Nairobi: on the left.
• Travel advice — Johannesburg: no advice against travel; Nairobi: avoid all travel to parts, avoid all but essential travel to parts.

Facts from Wikidata (CC0), the UK Foreign Office (Open Government Licence) and the World Bank. The advisory is written for British travellers; entry rules depend on your passport.

Between them

2,912 km as the crow flies, about 4h 28m in the air.Nonstop, about 4 a day · Kenya Airways, South African Airlink.

The flight time is estimated from the distance. A road, train or bus is named only where it was measured — flights from AeroDataBox, roads from OpenRouteService, timetables via Transitous — and none of it is a fare; the searches on each destination's page are where prices live.

Also compared

• Johannesburg or Cape Town
• Johannesburg or Casablanca
• Johannesburg or Lagos
• Johannesburg or Marrakech
• Johannesburg or Mauritius
• Nairobi or Cape Town
• Nairobi or Casablanca
• Nairobi or Lagos
• Nairobi or Marrakech
• Nairobi or Mauritius

Every verdict here is the destination's own: ten years of climate readings, the public holidays that crowd it, and what the flight costs. The comparison is the difference between two pages, not a third opinion.