VacationSelector
The tusks over Moi Avenue, Mombasa
MombasaThe tusks over Moi Avenue
Hanok houses in Bukchon, Seoul
SeoulHanok houses in Bukchon

Photos: Mombasa by Rob Oo, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Seoul by 거열 박, Pexels License.

Mombasa or Seoul?

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
  • prices

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

Choose Seoul for

  • getting around
  • shopping
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Seoul’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, Seoul 18: Mombasa leads by 64 points.
Food & drink. Mombasa 60, Seoul 84: Seoul leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Mombasa 55, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Mombasa 46, Seoul 84: Seoul leads by 38 points.
Nature & outdoors. Mombasa 74, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Mombasa 45, Seoul 77: Seoul leads by 32 points.
Good for families. Mombasa 45, Seoul 80: Seoul leads by 35 points.
Getting around. Mombasa 30, Seoul 87: Seoul leads by 57 points.
Shopping & style. Mombasa 35, Seoul 85: Seoul leads by 50 points.
Affordability. Mombasa 70, Seoul 50: Mombasa leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Mombasa 22, Seoul 63: Seoul leads by 41 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Mombasa 40, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 35 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Mombasa and Seoul.

Your match

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

Mombasa
50match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Seoul
Best match
71match

Wins on getting around and shopping 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
No recordsunshine a day
26 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Seoul in July

29 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
422 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
MombasaSeoul

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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Mombasa: 1991-2020 normals, Mombasa (5.8 km from centre). Seoul: 1991-2020 normals, Seoul (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMombasaSeoul
Official languageEnglish, SwahiliKorean, Korean Sign Language
CurrencyKenyan Shilling (KES)Won (KRW)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzCF220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+9
Emergency numberPolice 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999Police 112, ambulance 119, fire 119
Elevation50 m38 m
Main airportMoi International Airport (MBA)8 km from centre22 non-stop destinationsIncheon International Airport (ICN)49 km from centre162 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureMombasaSeoul
City population1,208,3339,668,465
People per km²4,10015,973
Museums within 10 km081
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km25
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months2 months

Where else could you go?

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