Photos: Baku by Zulfugar Karimov, Pexels License; Mombasa by Rob Oo, CC BY 2.0, cropped.
Baku 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 Baku for
- live music and the arts
- getting around
- shopping
What lies behind each score is written up on Baku’s own page.
Choose Mombasa for
- nature and the outdoors
- beaches
- wellness
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.
What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Baku and Mombasa.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Too close to call, 2 points apart
Wins on live music and the arts and getting around with your weighting.
Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches with your weighting.
What matters to you?
When should you go?
Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.
Baku in July
Mombasa in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
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. Baku: 1991-2020 normals, Mashtaga (23.2 km from centre). Mombasa: 1991-2020 normals, Mombasa (5.8 km from centre).
Before you go
| Measure | Baku | Mombasa |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Azerbaijani, Azerbaijani Sign Language | English, Swahili |
| Currency | Azerbaijan Manat (AZN) | Kenyan Shilling (KES) |
| Sockets | CF220 V, 50 Hz | G240 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Left |
| Time zone | UTC+4 | UTC+3 |
| Emergency number | 102 or 112 | Police 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999 |
| Elevation | -28 m | 50 m |
| Main airport | Heydar Aliyev International Airport (GYD)22 km from centre79 non-stop destinations | Moi International Airport (MBA)8 km from centre22 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | - | 10 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Baku | Mombasa |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 2,300,500 | 1,208,333 |
| People per km² | 1,075 | 4,100 |
| Museums within 10 km | 50 | 0 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 2 | 2 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | 4 months | 12 months |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Baku or Mombasa somewhere new.