VacationSelector
A yellow tram in a narrow street, Lisbon
LisbonA yellow tram in a narrow street
The Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower, Nairobi
NairobiThe Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower

Photos: Lisbon by Riccardo Toso, Pexels License; Nairobi by Lmwangi, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Lisbon 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 Lisbon for

  • day trips
  • beaches
  • getting around

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

Choose Nairobi for

  • 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. Lisbon 50, Nairobi 4: Lisbon leads by 46 points.
Food & drink. Lisbon 75, Nairobi 48: Lisbon leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Lisbon 78, Nairobi 35: Lisbon leads by 43 points.
Nightlife. Lisbon 75, Nairobi 58: Lisbon leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lisbon 75, Nairobi 84: Nairobi leads by 9 points.
Day trips. Lisbon 82, Nairobi 28: Lisbon leads by 54 points.
Good for families. Lisbon 62, Nairobi 55: Lisbon leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Lisbon 66, Nairobi 20: Lisbon leads by 46 points.
Shopping & style. Lisbon 60, Nairobi 45: Lisbon leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Lisbon 55, Nairobi 60: Nairobi leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lisbon 60, Nairobi 35: Lisbon leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lisbon 36, Nairobi 25: Lisbon leads by 11 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lisbon and Nairobi.

Your match

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

Lisbon
Best match
65match

Wins on day trips and beaches with your weighting.

Nairobi
41match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Lisbon in July

28 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
15 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
LisbonNairobi

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lisbon: 1991-2020 normals, Lisboa / Geof (1.1 km from centre). Nairobi: 1991-2020 normals, Nairobi ACC/FIC/RCC/MET/COM/ (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLisbonNairobi
Official languagePortugueseEnglish, Swahili
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Kenyan Shilling (KES)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+3
Emergency number112Police 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999
Elevation100 m1,661 m
Main airportLisbon Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS)7 km from centre156 non-stop destinationsJomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO)13 km from centre60 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureLisbonNairobi
City population545,7965,545,000
People per km²5,4537,967
Museums within 10 km804
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km30
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Lisbon 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.