VacationSelector
Wat Pho, Bangkok
BangkokWat Pho
The Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower, Nairobi
NairobiThe Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower

Photos: Bangkok by Lu Zhao, Pexels License; Nairobi by Lmwangi, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Bangkok or Nairobi?

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 Bangkok for

  • wellness
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Nairobi for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Nairobi’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. Bangkok 12, Nairobi 4: Bangkok leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Bangkok 95, Nairobi 48: Bangkok leads by 47 points.
Culture & sights. Bangkok 80, Nairobi 35: Bangkok leads by 45 points.
Nightlife. Bangkok 85, Nairobi 58: Bangkok leads by 27 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bangkok 25, Nairobi 84: Nairobi leads by 59 points.
Day trips. Bangkok 72, Nairobi 28: Bangkok leads by 44 points.
Good for families. Bangkok 50, Nairobi 55: Nairobi leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Bangkok 50, Nairobi 20: Bangkok leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Bangkok 80, Nairobi 45: Bangkok leads by 35 points.
Affordability. Bangkok 85, Nairobi 60: Bangkok leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bangkok 52, Nairobi 35: Bangkok leads by 17 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bangkok 75, Nairobi 25: Bangkok leads by 50 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bangkok and Nairobi.

Your match

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

Bangkok
Best match
63match

Wins on wellness and food and drink with your weighting.

Nairobi
41match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Bangkok in July

34 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
184 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Nairobi in July

24 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
11 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
BangkokNairobi

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bangkok: 1991-2020 normals, Bangkok (5.7 km from centre). Nairobi: 1991-2020 normals, Nairobi ACC/FIC/RCC/MET/COM/ (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBangkokNairobi
Official languageThaiEnglish, Swahili
CurrencyBaht (THB)Kenyan Shilling (KES)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+3
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199Police 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999
Elevation2 m1,661 m
Main airportSuvarnabhumi Airport (BKK)26 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsJomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO)13 km from centre60 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-10 days

By the numbers

MeasureBangkokNairobi
City population5,676,6485,545,000
People per km²3,6197,967
Museums within 10 km594
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bangkok or Nairobi 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). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.