VacationSelector
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor
The Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower, Nairobi
NairobiThe Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower

Photos: Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Nairobi by Lmwangi, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Lima 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 Lima for

  • food and drink
  • beaches
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Nairobi for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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. Lima 42, Nairobi 4: Lima leads by 38 points.
Food & drink. Lima 88, Nairobi 48: Lima leads by 40 points.
Culture & sights. Lima 66, Nairobi 35: Lima leads by 31 points.
Nightlife. Lima 62, Nairobi 58: Lima leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lima 45, Nairobi 84: Nairobi leads by 39 points.
Day trips. Lima 34, Nairobi 28: Lima leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Lima 42, Nairobi 55: Nairobi leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Lima 35, Nairobi 20: Lima leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Lima 52, Nairobi 45: Lima leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Lima 70, Nairobi 60: Lima leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lima 53, Nairobi 35: Lima leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lima and Nairobi are level on 25.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lima and Nairobi.

Your match

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

Lima
Best match
51match

Wins on food and drink and beaches with your weighting.

Nairobi
41match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Lima in July

19 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
1 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
12 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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
LimaNairobi

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lima: 1991-2020 normals, Lima-Callao / Aerop. Internacional Jorgechavez (10.9 km from centre). Nairobi: 1991-2020 normals, Nairobi ACC/FIC/RCC/MET/COM/ (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLimaNairobi
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaEnglish, Swahili
CurrencySol (PEN)Kenyan Shilling (KES)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+3
Emergency number111 or 911Police 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999
Elevation154 m1,661 m
Main airportJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinationsJomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO)13 km from centre60 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureLimaNairobi
City population9,943,8005,545,000
People per km²3,7217,967
Museums within 10 km474
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Lima or Nairobi 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). 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.