VacationSelector
The tusks over Moi Avenue, Mombasa
MombasaThe tusks over Moi Avenue
The SkyWheel by the beach, Myrtle Beach
Myrtle BeachThe SkyWheel by the beach

Photos: Mombasa by Rob Oo, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Myrtle Beach by The ed17, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Mombasa or Myrtle Beach?

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 Mombasa for

  • culture and sights
  • nature and the outdoors
  • food and drink

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

Choose Myrtle Beach for

  • families
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Myrtle Beach’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. Mombasa 82, Myrtle Beach 84: Myrtle Beach leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Mombasa 60, Myrtle Beach 38: Mombasa leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Mombasa 55, Myrtle Beach 20: Mombasa leads by 35 points.
Nightlife. Mombasa 46, Myrtle Beach 42: Mombasa leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Mombasa 74, Myrtle Beach 46: Mombasa leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Mombasa 45, Myrtle Beach 50: Myrtle Beach leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Mombasa 45, Myrtle Beach 80: Myrtle Beach leads by 35 points.
Getting around. Mombasa 30, Myrtle Beach 18: Mombasa leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Mombasa 35, Myrtle Beach 38: Myrtle Beach leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Mombasa 70, Myrtle Beach 52: Mombasa leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Mombasa 22, Myrtle Beach 30: Myrtle Beach leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Mombasa 40, Myrtle Beach 28: Mombasa leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Mombasa and Myrtle Beach.

Your match

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

Mombasa
Best match
50match

Wins on culture and sights and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Myrtle Beach
44match

Wins on families and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Mombasa in July

28 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
63 mmrain in the month
26 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Myrtle Beach in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
172 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
MombasaMyrtle Beach

Where the figures come from

Mombasa has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Myrtle Beach has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Mombasa: 1991-2020 normals, Mombasa (5.8 km from centre). Myrtle Beach: 1971-2000 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Myrtle Beach Air Force Base (5.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMombasaMyrtle Beach
Official languageEnglish, Swahili-
CurrencyKenyan Shilling (KES)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999911
Elevation50 m8 m
Main airportMoi International Airport (MBA)8 km from centre22 non-stop destinationsMyrtle Beach International Airport (MYR)5 km from centre60 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureMombasaMyrtle Beach
City population1,208,33335,682
People per km²4,100591
Museums within 10 km02
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Mombasa or Myrtle Beach 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.