VacationSelector
The Turtle Tower in Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi
HanoiThe Turtle Tower in Hoan Kiem Lake
The tusks over Moi Avenue, Mombasa
MombasaThe tusks over Moi Avenue

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

Hanoi 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 Hanoi for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Mombasa for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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. Hanoi 6, Mombasa 82: Mombasa leads by 76 points.
Food & drink. Hanoi 85, Mombasa 60: Hanoi leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Hanoi 72, Mombasa 55: Hanoi leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. Hanoi 50, Mombasa 46: Hanoi leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hanoi 52, Mombasa 74: Mombasa leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Hanoi 58, Mombasa 45: Hanoi leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Hanoi 35, Mombasa 45: Mombasa leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Hanoi 36, Mombasa 30: Hanoi leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Hanoi 50, Mombasa 35: Hanoi leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Hanoi 98, Mombasa 70: Hanoi leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hanoi 40, Mombasa 22: Hanoi leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hanoi 46, Mombasa 40: Hanoi leads by 6 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hanoi and Mombasa.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Hanoi
52match

Wins on prices and food and drink 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.

Hanoi in July

34 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
311 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
13 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

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
HanoiMombasa

Where the figures come from

Hanoi's sunshine is measured 86 km from the centre, at Phu Lien.

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. Hanoi: 1991-2020 normals, Ha Noi (4.4 km from centre). Mombasa: 1991-2020 normals, Mombasa (5.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHanoiMombasa
Official languageVietnameseEnglish, Swahili
CurrencyDong (VND)Kenyan Shilling (KES)
SocketsACFG220 V, 50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+3
Emergency numberPolice 113, ambulance 115, fire 114Police 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999
Elevation10 m50 m
Main airportNoi Bai International Airport (HAN)22 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsMoi International Airport (MBA)8 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-10 days

By the numbers

MeasureHanoiMombasa
City population8,717,6001,208,333
People per km²2,5954,100
Museums within 10 km140
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 Hanoi 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). 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.