VacationSelector
Swayambhunath with its prayer flags, Kathmandu
KathmanduSwayambhunath with its prayer flags
The tusks over Moi Avenue, Mombasa
MombasaThe tusks over Moi Avenue

Photos: Kathmandu by Nabin K. Sapkota, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Mombasa by Rob Oo, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Kathmandu 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 Kathmandu for

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • shopping

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

Choose Mombasa for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nightlife

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. Kathmandu 4, Mombasa 82: Mombasa leads by 78 points.
Food & drink. Kathmandu 55, Mombasa 60: Mombasa leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Kathmandu 82, Mombasa 55: Kathmandu leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Kathmandu 36, Mombasa 46: Mombasa leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kathmandu 70, Mombasa 74: Mombasa leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Kathmandu 56, Mombasa 45: Kathmandu leads by 11 points.
Good for families. Kathmandu 20, Mombasa 45: Mombasa leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Kathmandu 25, Mombasa 30: Mombasa leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Kathmandu 55, Mombasa 35: Kathmandu leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Kathmandu 97, Mombasa 70: Kathmandu leads by 27 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kathmandu 28, Mombasa 22: Kathmandu leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kathmandu 45, Mombasa 40: Kathmandu leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Kathmandu 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

Kathmandu
48match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Mombasa
50match

Wins on beaches 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.

Kathmandu in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
384 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 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
KathmanduMombasa

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. Kathmandu: 1991-2020 normals, Kathmandu Airport (4.7 km from centre). Mombasa: 1991-2020 normals, Mombasa (5.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKathmanduMombasa
Official languageNepaliEnglish, Swahili
CurrencyNepalese Rupee (NPR)Kenyan Shilling (KES)
SocketsCM230 V, 50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+5:45UTC+3
Emergency numberPolice 100, ambulance 102, fire 101Police 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999
Elevation1,300 m50 m
Main airportTribhuvan International Airport (KTM)4 km from centre38 non-stop destinationsMoi International Airport (MBA)8 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-10 days

By the numbers

MeasureKathmanduMombasa
City population845,7671,208,333
People per km²17,1214,100
Museums within 10 km90
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 Kathmandu 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.