VacationSelector
Philae temple on the Nile, Aswan
AswanPhilae temple on the Nile
The tusks over Moi Avenue, Mombasa
MombasaThe tusks over Moi Avenue

Photos: Aswan by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Mombasa by Rob Oo, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Aswan 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 Aswan for

  • prices
  • getting around
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Mombasa for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

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. Aswan 10, Mombasa 82: Mombasa leads by 72 points.
Food & drink. Aswan 30, Mombasa 60: Mombasa leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Aswan 64, Mombasa 55: Aswan leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Aswan 8, Mombasa 46: Mombasa leads by 38 points.
Nature & outdoors. Aswan 45, Mombasa 74: Mombasa leads by 29 points.
Day trips. Aswan 52, Mombasa 45: Aswan leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Aswan 32, Mombasa 45: Mombasa leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Aswan 40, Mombasa 30: Aswan leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Aswan 30, Mombasa 35: Mombasa leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Aswan 92, Mombasa 70: Aswan leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Aswan 14, Mombasa 22: Mombasa leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Aswan and Mombasa are level on 40.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Aswan and Mombasa.

Your match

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

Aswan
38match

Wins on prices and getting around with your weighting.

Mombasa
Best match
50match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Aswan in July

42 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 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°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
AswanMombasa

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. Aswan: 1991-2020 normals, Asswan (18 km from centre). Mombasa: 1991-2020 normals, Mombasa (5.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAswanMombasa
Official languageArabicEnglish, Swahili
CurrencyEgyptian Pound (EGP)Kenyan Shilling (KES)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+3
Emergency numberPolice 122, ambulance 123, fire 180Police 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999
Elevation99 m50 m
Main airportAswan International Airport (ASW)16 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsMoi International Airport (MBA)8 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureAswanMombasa
City population401,8901,208,333
People per km²1,0724,100
Museums within 10 km30
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Aswan 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.