VacationSelector
The pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto
KyotoThe pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera
The Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower, Nairobi
NairobiThe Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower

Photos: Kyoto by Bert Mulder, Pexels License; Nairobi by Lmwangi, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Kyoto 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 Kyoto for

  • day trips
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

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

Choose Nairobi for

  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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. Kyoto 15, Nairobi 4: Kyoto leads by 11 points.
Food & drink. Kyoto 85, Nairobi 48: Kyoto leads by 37 points.
Culture & sights. Kyoto 96, Nairobi 35: Kyoto leads by 61 points.
Nightlife. Kyoto 35, Nairobi 58: Nairobi leads by 23 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kyoto 70, Nairobi 84: Nairobi leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Kyoto 96, Nairobi 28: Kyoto leads by 68 points.
Good for families. Kyoto 68, Nairobi 55: Kyoto leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Kyoto 72, Nairobi 20: Kyoto leads by 52 points.
Shopping & style. Kyoto 72, Nairobi 45: Kyoto leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Kyoto 50, Nairobi 60: Nairobi leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kyoto 60, Nairobi 35: Kyoto leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kyoto 70, Nairobi 25: Kyoto leads by 45 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Kyoto
Best match
66match

Wins on day trips and culture and sights with your weighting.

Nairobi
41match

Wins on nightlife 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.

Kyoto in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
225 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Nairobi in July

24 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
11 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
KyotoNairobi

Where the figures come from

Kyoto's sunshine is measured 43 km from the centre, at Osaka.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Kyoto: 1971-2000 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Kyoto (3.2 km from centre). Nairobi: 1991-2020 normals, Nairobi ACC/FIC/RCC/MET/COM/ (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKyotoNairobi
Official languageJapaneseEnglish, Swahili
CurrencyYen (JPY)Kenyan Shilling (KES)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+3
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119Police 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999
Elevation51 m1,661 m
Main airportKansai International Airport (KIX)81 km from centre62 non-stop destinationsJomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO)13 km from centre60 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureKyotoNairobi
City population1,463,7235,545,000
People per km²1,7687,967
Museums within 10 km774
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km40
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Kyoto or Nairobi somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.