VacationSelector
Big Ben and Westminster Bridge, London
LondonBig Ben and Westminster Bridge
The Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower, Nairobi
NairobiThe Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower

Photos: London by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Nairobi by Lmwangi, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

London 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 London for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

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

Choose Nairobi for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

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. London 25, Nairobi 4: London leads by 21 points.
Food & drink. London 84, Nairobi 48: London leads by 36 points.
Culture & sights. London 94, Nairobi 35: London leads by 59 points.
Nightlife. London 88, Nairobi 58: London leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. London 57, Nairobi 84: Nairobi leads by 27 points.
Day trips. London 90, Nairobi 28: London leads by 62 points.
Good for families. London 82, Nairobi 55: London leads by 27 points.
Getting around. London 85, Nairobi 20: London leads by 65 points.
Shopping & style. London 95, Nairobi 45: London leads by 50 points.
Affordability. London 15, Nairobi 60: Nairobi leads by 45 points.
Live music & performing arts. London 98, Nairobi 35: London leads by 63 points.
Wellness & relaxation. London 40, Nairobi 25: London leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: London and Nairobi.

Your match

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

London
Best match
71match

Wins on getting around and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Nairobi
41match

Wins on prices 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.

London in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Nairobi in July

24 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
11 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
LondonNairobi

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. London: 1992-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, London Weather Centre (1.3 km from centre). Nairobi: 1991-2020 normals, Nairobi ACC/FIC/RCC/MET/COM/ (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLondonNairobi
Official languageEnglishEnglish, Swahili
CurrencyPound Sterling (GBP)Kenyan Shilling (KES)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+3
Emergency number112 or 999Police 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999
Elevation4 m1,661 m
Main airportLondon Heathrow Airport (LHR)23 km from centre224 non-stop destinationsJomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO)13 km from centre60 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year8 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureLondonNairobi
City population8,799,7285,545,000
People per km²5,5987,967
Museums within 10 km2164
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km40

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow London 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. 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.