VacationSelector
The Anshun Bridge over the Jin River, Chengdu
ChengduThe Anshun Bridge over the Jin River
The tusks over Moi Avenue, Mombasa
MombasaThe tusks over Moi Avenue

Photos: Chengdu by TurnOnTheNight, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Mombasa by Rob Oo, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Chengdu 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 Chengdu for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • shopping

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

Choose Mombasa for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Chengdu 5, Mombasa 82: Mombasa leads by 77 points.
Food & drink. Chengdu 86, Mombasa 60: Chengdu leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Chengdu 60, Mombasa 55: Chengdu leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Chengdu 68, Mombasa 46: Chengdu leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chengdu 68, Mombasa 74: Mombasa leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Chengdu 80, Mombasa 45: Chengdu leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Chengdu 65, Mombasa 45: Chengdu leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Chengdu 74, Mombasa 30: Chengdu leads by 44 points.
Shopping & style. Chengdu 64, Mombasa 35: Chengdu leads by 29 points.
Affordability. Chengdu 80, Mombasa 70: Chengdu leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chengdu 50, Mombasa 22: Chengdu leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chengdu 58, Mombasa 40: Chengdu leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chengdu and Mombasa.

Your match

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

Chengdu
Best match
63match

Wins on getting around and day trips 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.

Chengdu in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
177 mmrain in the month
4 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
ChengduMombasa

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. Chengdu: 1991-2020 normals, Chengdu (4.5 km from centre). Mombasa: 1991-2020 normals, Mombasa (5.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChengduMombasa
Official languagePutonghuaEnglish, Swahili
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Kenyan Shilling (KES)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+3
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119Police 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999
Elevation500 m50 m
Main airportChengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU)16 km from centre77 non-stop destinationsMoi International Airport (MBA)8 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureChengduMombasa
City population20,937,7571,208,333
People per km²1,4564,100
Museums within 10 km100
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
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 Chengdu 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). 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. 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.

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.