VacationSelector
San Petronio on Piazza Maggiore, Bologna
BolognaSan Petronio on Piazza Maggiore
The tusks over Moi Avenue, Mombasa
MombasaThe tusks over Moi Avenue

Photos: Bologna by Vanni Lazzari, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Mombasa by Rob Oo, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Bologna 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 Bologna for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Mombasa for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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. Bologna 30, Mombasa 82: Mombasa leads by 52 points.
Food & drink. Bologna 82, Mombasa 60: Bologna leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Bologna 77, Mombasa 55: Bologna leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Bologna 58, Mombasa 46: Bologna leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bologna 52, Mombasa 74: Mombasa leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Bologna 95, Mombasa 45: Bologna leads by 50 points.
Good for families. Bologna 50, Mombasa 45: Bologna leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Bologna 76, Mombasa 30: Bologna leads by 46 points.
Shopping & style. Bologna 55, Mombasa 35: Bologna leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Bologna 48, Mombasa 70: Mombasa leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bologna 60, Mombasa 22: Bologna leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bologna and Mombasa are level on 40.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bologna and Mombasa.

Your match

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

Bologna
Best match
60match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

Mombasa
50match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Bologna in July

32 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
39 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
No seasea
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
BolognaMombasa

Where the figures come from

Bologna 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.

Bologna's sunshine is measured 82 km from the centre, at Cervia.

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. Bologna: 1991-2020 normals, Bologna / Borgo Panigale (5.5 km from centre). Mombasa: 1991-2020 normals, Mombasa (5.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBolognaMombasa
Official languageItalianEnglish, Swahili
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Kenyan Shilling (KES)
SocketsCFL230 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
Elevation54 m50 m
Main airportBologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport (BLQ)6 km from centre98 non-stop destinationsMoi International Airport (MBA)8 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureBolognaMombasa
City population387,9711,208,333
People per km²2,7544,100
Museums within 10 km680
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km32
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 Bologna 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). 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. 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.