VacationSelector
The Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake, Guilin
GuilinThe Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake
The tusks over Moi Avenue, Mombasa
MombasaThe tusks over Moi Avenue

Photos: Guilin by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Mombasa by Rob Oo, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Guilin 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 Guilin for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

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

Choose Mombasa for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • 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. Guilin 8, Mombasa 82: Mombasa leads by 74 points.
Food & drink. Guilin 45, Mombasa 60: Mombasa leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Guilin 40, Mombasa 55: Mombasa leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Guilin 30, Mombasa 46: Mombasa leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Guilin 88, Mombasa 74: Guilin leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Guilin 56, Mombasa 45: Guilin leads by 11 points.
Good for families. Guilin and Mombasa are level on 45.
Getting around. Guilin 45, Mombasa 30: Guilin leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Guilin 28, Mombasa 35: Mombasa leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Guilin 78, Mombasa 70: Guilin leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Guilin 30, Mombasa 22: Guilin leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Guilin and Mombasa are level on 40.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Guilin and Mombasa.

Your match

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

Guilin
44match

Wins on getting around and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Mombasa
Best match
50match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Guilin in July

33 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
248 mmrain in the month
No seasea
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

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
GuilinMombasa

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. Guilin: 1991-2020 normals, Guilin (7.6 km from centre). Mombasa: 1991-2020 normals, Mombasa (5.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGuilinMombasa
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
Elevation153 m50 m
Main airportGuilin Liangjiang International Airport (KWL)25 km from centre43 non-stop destinationsMoi International Airport (MBA)8 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureGuilinMombasa
City population4,931,1371,208,333
People per km²-4,100
Museums within 10 km10
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
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 Guilin 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.