VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
The Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower, Nairobi
NairobiThe Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower

Photos: Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Nairobi by Lmwangi, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles for

  • beaches
  • live music and the arts
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Los Angeles’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. Los Angeles 60, Nairobi 4: Los Angeles leads by 56 points.
Food & drink. Los Angeles 84, Nairobi 48: Los Angeles leads by 36 points.
Culture & sights. Los Angeles 66, Nairobi 35: Los Angeles leads by 31 points.
Nightlife. Los Angeles 67, Nairobi 58: Los Angeles leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Los Angeles 80, Nairobi 84: Nairobi leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Los Angeles 60, Nairobi 28: Los Angeles leads by 32 points.
Good for families. Los Angeles 84, Nairobi 55: Los Angeles leads by 29 points.
Getting around. Los Angeles 25, Nairobi 20: Los Angeles leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Los Angeles 80, Nairobi 45: Los Angeles leads by 35 points.
Affordability. Los Angeles 24, Nairobi 60: Nairobi leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Los Angeles 83, Nairobi 35: Los Angeles leads by 48 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Los Angeles 60, Nairobi 25: Los Angeles leads by 35 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Los Angeles and Nairobi.

Your match

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

Los Angeles
Best match
64match

Wins on beaches 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.

Los Angeles in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
Los AngelesNairobi

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre). Nairobi: 1991-2020 normals, Nairobi ACC/FIC/RCC/MET/COM/ (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLos AngelesNairobi
Official language-English, Swahili
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Kenyan Shilling (KES)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+3
Emergency number911Police 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999
Elevation106 m1,661 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsJomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO)13 km from centre60 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureLos AngelesNairobi
City population3,898,7475,545,000
People per km²2,9947,967
Museums within 10 km394
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Los Angeles 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). 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.