VacationSelector
The pyramids of Giza, Cairo
CairoThe pyramids of Giza
The tusks over Moi Avenue, Mombasa
MombasaThe tusks over Moi Avenue

Photos: Cairo by Ricardo Liberato, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Mombasa by Rob Oo, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Cairo 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 Cairo for

  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts
  • prices

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

Choose Mombasa for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • 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.

Beaches & swimming. Cairo 10, Mombasa 82: Mombasa leads by 72 points.
Food & drink. Cairo and Mombasa are level on 60.
Culture & sights. Cairo 96, Mombasa 55: Cairo leads by 41 points.
Nightlife. Cairo 48, Mombasa 46: Cairo leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cairo 30, Mombasa 74: Mombasa leads by 44 points.
Day trips. Cairo 66, Mombasa 45: Cairo leads by 21 points.
Good for families. Cairo 32, Mombasa 45: Mombasa leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Cairo 35, Mombasa 30: Cairo leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Cairo 58, Mombasa 35: Cairo leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Cairo 95, Mombasa 70: Cairo leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cairo 50, Mombasa 22: Cairo leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cairo 15, Mombasa 40: Mombasa leads by 25 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Cairo
50match

Wins on culture and sights and live music and the arts 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.

Cairo in July

36 °Cdaytime high
23 °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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
CairoMombasa

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. Cairo: 1991-2020 normals, Helwan (21.9 km from centre). Mombasa: 1991-2020 normals, Mombasa (5.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCairoMombasa
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
Elevation23 m50 m
Main airportCairo International Airport (CAI)17 km from centre127 non-stop destinationsMoi International Airport (MBA)8 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureCairoMombasa
City population9,801,5361,208,333
People per km²18,5644,100
Museums within 10 km480
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22
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 Cairo 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.