VacationSelector
The skyline and yachts on the canals, Fort Lauderdale
Fort LauderdaleThe skyline and yachts on the canals
The tusks over Moi Avenue, Mombasa
MombasaThe tusks over Moi Avenue

Photos: Fort Lauderdale by KeanoManu, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Mombasa by Rob Oo, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Fort Lauderdale 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 Fort Lauderdale for

  • families
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

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

Choose Mombasa for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • food and drink

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. Fort Lauderdale 88, Mombasa 82: Fort Lauderdale leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Fort Lauderdale 47, Mombasa 60: Mombasa leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Fort Lauderdale 28, Mombasa 55: Mombasa leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Fort Lauderdale 52, Mombasa 46: Fort Lauderdale leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Fort Lauderdale 62, Mombasa 74: Mombasa leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Fort Lauderdale 58, Mombasa 45: Fort Lauderdale leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Fort Lauderdale 66, Mombasa 45: Fort Lauderdale leads by 21 points.
Getting around. Fort Lauderdale 32, Mombasa 30: Fort Lauderdale leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Fort Lauderdale 52, Mombasa 35: Fort Lauderdale leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Fort Lauderdale 32, Mombasa 70: Mombasa leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Fort Lauderdale 42, Mombasa 22: Fort Lauderdale leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Fort Lauderdale and Mombasa are level on 40.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Fort Lauderdale 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

Fort Lauderdale
50match

Wins on families and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Mombasa
50match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Fort Lauderdale in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
166 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 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
Fort LauderdaleMombasa

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. Fort Lauderdale: 1991-2020 normals, Fort Lauderdale (7.1 km from centre). Mombasa: 1991-2020 normals, Mombasa (5.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFort LauderdaleMombasa
Official language-English, Swahili
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Kenyan Shilling (KES)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+3
Emergency number911Police 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999
Elevation11 m50 m
Main airportFort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL)7 km from centre136 non-stop destinationsMoi International Airport (MBA)8 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureFort LauderdaleMombasa
City population182,7601,208,333
People per km²1,8294,100
Museums within 10 km60
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Fort Lauderdale 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.