VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
The tusks over Moi Avenue, Mombasa
MombasaThe tusks over Moi Avenue

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Mombasa by Rob Oo, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Alicante or Mombasa?

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 Alicante for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • families

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

Choose Mombasa for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Mombasa’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. Alicante and Mombasa are level on 82.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Mombasa 60: Alicante leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Mombasa 55: Mombasa leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, Mombasa 46: Alicante leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Mombasa 74: Mombasa leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Mombasa 45: Alicante leads by 27 points.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Mombasa 45: Alicante leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Alicante 66, Mombasa 30: Alicante leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Mombasa 35: Alicante leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Mombasa 70: Mombasa leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Mombasa 22: Alicante leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante and Mombasa are level on 40.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and Mombasa.

Your match

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

Alicante
Best match
59match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Mombasa
50match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Alicante in July

30 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Mombasa in July

28 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
63 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
26 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
AlicanteMombasa

Where the figures come from

Mombasa has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). Mombasa: 1991-2020 normals, Mombasa (5.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicanteMombasa
Official languageSpanishEnglish, Swahili
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Kenyan Shilling (KES)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+3
Emergency number112Police 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999
Elevation3 m50 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsMoi International Airport (MBA)8 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicanteMombasa
City population366,2211,208,333
People per km²1,8194,100
Museums within 10 km80
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Alicante or Mombasa 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.