VacationSelector
The tusks over Moi Avenue, Mombasa
MombasaThe tusks over Moi Avenue
The towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light, Panama City
Panama CityThe towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light

Photos: Mombasa by Rob Oo, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Panama City by Ayaita, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Mombasa or Panama City?

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

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • prices

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

Choose Panama City for

  • shopping
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Panama City’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, Panama City 44: Mombasa leads by 38 points.
Food & drink. Mombasa 60, Panama City 57: Mombasa leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Mombasa 55, Panama City 62: Panama City leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Mombasa 46, Panama City 62: Panama City leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Mombasa and Panama City are level on 74.
Day trips. Mombasa 45, Panama City 50: Panama City leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Mombasa and Panama City are level on 45.
Getting around. Mombasa 30, Panama City 40: Panama City leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Mombasa 35, Panama City 52: Panama City leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Mombasa 70, Panama City 55: Mombasa leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Mombasa 22, Panama City 34: Panama City leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Mombasa 40, Panama City 22: Mombasa leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Mombasa and Panama City.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Mombasa
50match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

Panama City
50match

Wins on shopping and nightlife 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

Panama City in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
161 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
MombasaPanama City

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.

Panama City 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). Panama City: 1991-2020 normals, Tocumen (20.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMombasaPanama City
Official languageEnglish, SwahiliSpanish
CurrencyKenyan Shilling (KES)Balboa (PAB)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999911
Elevation50 m20 m
Main airportMoi International Airport (MBA)8 km from centre22 non-stop destinationsTocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureMombasaPanama City
City population1,208,3331,540,000
People per km²4,1005,600
Museums within 10 km010
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Mombasa or Panama City 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.