VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
The tusks over Moi Avenue, Mombasa
MombasaThe tusks over Moi Avenue

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Mombasa by Rob Oo, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Chicago 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 Chicago for

  • live music and the arts
  • getting around
  • shopping

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

Choose Mombasa for

  • prices
  • 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. Chicago 50, Mombasa 82: Mombasa leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Mombasa 60: Chicago leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Mombasa 55: Chicago leads by 23 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Mombasa 46: Chicago leads by 31 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Mombasa 74: Mombasa leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Mombasa 45: Mombasa leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Mombasa 45: Chicago leads by 33 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Mombasa 30: Chicago leads by 42 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Mombasa 35: Chicago leads by 35 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Mombasa 70: Mombasa leads by 37 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Mombasa 22: Chicago leads by 60 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Mombasa 40: Mombasa leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chicago and Mombasa.

Your match

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

Chicago
Best match
62match

Wins on live music and the arts and getting around with your weighting.

Mombasa
50match

Wins on prices 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.

Chicago in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
102 mmrain in the month
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Mombasa in July

28 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
63 mmrain in the month
26 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoMombasa

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. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Mombasa: 1991-2020 normals, Mombasa (5.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoMombasa
Official language-English, Swahili
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Kenyan Shilling (KES)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+3
Emergency number911Police 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999
Elevation179 m50 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsMoi International Airport (MBA)8 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoMombasa
City population2,746,3881,208,333
People per km²4,5294,100
Museums within 10 km440
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chicago 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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. 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.