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Durban
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Photo by South African Tourism from South Africa, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Best time to visit Durban

South Africa · Africa

All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.

The year in Durban

Tap a month for its page

  1. Durban in January: sweet spot
  2. Durban in February: sweet spot
  3. Durban in March: good
  4. Durban in April: sweet spot
  5. Durban in May: sweet spot
  6. Durban in June: sweet spot
  7. Durban in July: good
  8. Durban in August: good, busy
  9. Durban in September: sweet spot
  10. Durban in October: sweet spot
  11. Durban in November: sweet spot
  12. Durban in December: good
  • Sweet spot
  • Good
  • OK
  • Avoid
  • Busy
Go in Jan, Feb, Apr, May, Jun, Sep, Oct or Nov — these months score within a whisker of each other; 23C max, 2 rainy days. Mar is the next best.

Things to do in Durban

  • uShaka Marine World To see the huge aquarium or ride more than eight different rides in the Waterworld.
  • Durban Botanic Gardens Gardens's from South Africa
  • North Beach Durban
  • Kenneth Stainbank Nature Reserve Nature reserve in Durban, South Africa
  • Mitchell Park Zoo For when you don't want to go on a safari.
  • Durban South Africa Temple Building in South Africa
  • Umgeni River Bird Park Zoo in Durban, South Africa

Tours and tickets in Durban

Each site opens on its own search: choose your dates there. A few open on their home page, where you type the place too. Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you; most pay nothing, and what a site pays never decides whether it is listed or where. How we rank

Sights and their lines from Wikivoyage (Durban), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, and Wikidata; in order of how often each one's Wikipedia article was read on phones in the last 12 months.

Month by month

No fare history for this route yet, so this ranking is climate and crowds only — the price column will fill in as the scanner collects.

MonthMax °CRain days HumiditySun h/day VerdictWhy
Jan 28° 6d 77% 10.8h sweet spot 28C max, 6 rainy days
Feb 28° 6d 78% 9.7h sweet spot 28C max, 6 rainy days
Mar 27° 6d 79% 10.0h good 27C max, 6 rainy days
Apr 25° 6d 77% 9.0h sweet spot 25C max, 6 rainy days
May 24° 4d 73% 9.3h sweet spot 24C max, 4 rainy days
Jun 23° 2d 67% 9.6h sweet spot 23C max, 2 rainy days
Jul 23° 3d 64% 9.5h good 23C max, 3 rainy days
Aug 23° 4d 69% 9.1h goodbusy busier than usual
Sep 23° 6d 75% 8.9h sweet spot 23C max, 6 rainy days
Oct 24° 7d 76% 9.1h sweet spot 24C max, 7 rainy days
Nov 25° 7d 77% 9.6h sweet spot 25C max, 7 rainy days
Dec 26° 8d 79% 9.6h good 26C max, 8 rainy days

Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.

Weather read at the centre, 29 km from the airport (DUR): ten years of ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis, through Open-Meteo's open data.

A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one — usually it is crowded because the weather is good. It is flagged rather than scored down, and crowds alone never make a month “avoid”: that is reserved for weather worth skipping.

How busy it gets

Busiest in August; quietest in April.

Then and now

Durban's June days now average 23.0°C, 1.7°C warmer than in 1981–1990. 11 of 12 months are clearly warmer.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
1981–9026.4°26.5°26.1°24.9°23.4°21.3°21.2°21.8°22.1°22.7°23.8°25.2°
2017–2627.9°28.1°27.4°25.4°24.3°23.0°22.6°22.8°23.4°23.8°25.0°26.4°
Change+1.5°+1.6°+1.4°+0.5°+0.9°+1.7°+1.4°+1.0°+1.3°+1.1°+1.2°+1.2°

The average daily high, month by month, for the nearest ERA5 grid cell. Bold is a clear change; grey is within the ordinary spread between years. Every destination, ranked.

Getting there

How far Durban is, and what it costs, depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.

Before you go

Type C and D plugs at 230 V. Drives on the left. The currency is the Rand. No UK Foreign Office advice against travel. Everything for South Africa: cost of living, languages, emergency numbers and health.

Being there

On arrival

  • Paying — Cards are accepted almost everywhere and some places take no cash; contactless works in city chains and cafés. Carry small cash for tips, car guards and petrol attendants.
  • UPI, for visitors from India — Not accepted for paying here; bring a card that works abroad.
  • Tipping — About 10% in restaurants is expected; give petrol attendants and uniformed car guards a few rand.

Getting around Durban

  • Apps — Rides: Bolt, Uber. Maps: Google Maps, Apple Maps. Messages: WhatsApp.

The best way to get around Durban is by car. Check that you have the latest updated street maps and/or GPS device as some street names have changed. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Durban, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Help

  • Emergency — police 10111 · ambulance and fire 10177. From a mobile, 112 reaches all of them.
    TravelCharika is not an emergency service: we cannot call for help or send anyone. Numbers can change; if one fails, ask someone local or your hotel.

Put together by hand from the sources listed, checked 3 October 2026. Apps, cards and rules change, so check before you rely on one.

Sources (19)

Durban in pictures

Downtown Durban (54333041206)
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Dennis Sylvester Hurd, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Durban South Africa (54327280231)
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Dennis Sylvester Hurd, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Durban panoramio =XEON=
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=XEON=, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Durban South Beach (28 October 2024)
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Njomane081, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Durban Central
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Nzukiso Jalubani, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What Durban is like

Durban (Zulu: eThekwini; itheku means "city") is a city on the east coast of South Africa in the province of KwaZulu-Natal and in the municipality of eThekwini. It is the third largest city in South Africa and the busiest port in Africa. More on Wikivoyage

Worth seeing
Durban Botanical Gardens. Visit on a Saturday and see a mixture of cultural wedding parties having their photos taken. Berea. This is a long ridge overlooking the harbour, city centre and beaches. More on Wikivoyage
Worth doing
The Golden Mile. The Golden Mile, the nickname for the beaches near downtown that stretch along the Indian Ocean, is well known for its excellent surfing, occasional shark attack and wide sandy beaches. More on Wikivoyage
Getting in
King Shaka International Airport (DUR IATA) (35 km (22 mi) north of Durban, between Umhlanga and Ballito). Has flights to most cities. but some smaller cities are not connected from here. More on Wikivoyage
Staying safe
The beach strip is frequently patrolled by policemen, there are CCTV cameras and many lights at night. As everywhere else, there are several basic safety rules to follow. More on Wikivoyage
Staying healthy
Travel vaccines and general practitioner services available at Umhlanga Sports and Travel Clinic Umhlanga Hospital Helipad, 323 Umhlanga Rocks Drive, Umhlanga Rocks. +27 31 560-5569 More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Durban, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the full article has far more. The numbers above are measured; this is experience.

Around Durban

Also in South Africa

Nearby

Kind of place

Durban is in South Africa, Africa. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.

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