VacationSelector
The blue gate of Bab Bou Jeloud, Fes
FesThe blue gate of Bab Bou Jeloud
The Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower, Nairobi
NairobiThe Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower

Photos: Fes by Ideophagous, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Nairobi by Lmwangi, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Fes 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 Fes for

  • culture and sights
  • wellness
  • day trips

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

Choose Nairobi for

  • nightlife
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Fes 5, Nairobi 4: Fes leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Fes 62, Nairobi 48: Fes leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Fes 80, Nairobi 35: Fes leads by 45 points.
Nightlife. Fes 12, Nairobi 58: Nairobi leads by 46 points.
Nature & outdoors. Fes 52, Nairobi 84: Nairobi leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Fes 62, Nairobi 28: Fes leads by 34 points.
Good for families. Fes 22, Nairobi 55: Nairobi leads by 33 points.
Getting around. Fes 40, Nairobi 20: Fes leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Fes 68, Nairobi 45: Fes leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Fes 80, Nairobi 60: Fes leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Fes 32, Nairobi 35: Nairobi leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Fes 70, Nairobi 25: Fes leads by 45 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Fes and Nairobi.

Your match

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

Fes
Best match
49match

Wins on culture and sights and wellness with your weighting.

Nairobi
41match

Wins on nightlife 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.

Fes in July

36 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Nairobi in July

24 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
11 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
FesNairobi

Where the figures come from

Fes's station stands 171 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Fes 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.

Fes's sunshine is measured 52 km from the centre, at Meknes.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Fes: 1999-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Fes-Sais (12.4 km from centre). Nairobi: 1991-2020 normals, Nairobi ACC/FIC/RCC/MET/COM/ (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFesNairobi
Official languageArabic, Standard Moroccan TamazightEnglish, Swahili
CurrencyMoroccan Dirham (MAD)Kenyan Shilling (KES)
SocketsCE50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1UTC+3
Emergency numberPolice 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15Police 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999
Elevation408 m1,661 m
Main airportFes Saïss International Airport (FEZ)13 km from centre35 non-stop destinationsJomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO)13 km from centre60 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureFesNairobi
City population1,167,8425,545,000
People per km²3,6507,967
Museums within 10 km24
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Fes 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. 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.