VacationSelector
The tusks over Moi Avenue, Mombasa
MombasaThe tusks over Moi Avenue
Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo
TokyoShibuya Crossing

Photos: Mombasa by Rob Oo, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Tokyo by Benh LIEU SONG, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Mombasa or Tokyo?

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
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Tokyo for

  • getting around
  • shopping
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Tokyo’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, Tokyo 40: Mombasa leads by 42 points.
Food & drink. Mombasa 60, Tokyo 98: Tokyo leads by 38 points.
Culture & sights. Mombasa 55, Tokyo 84: Tokyo leads by 29 points.
Nightlife. Mombasa 46, Tokyo 86: Tokyo leads by 40 points.
Nature & outdoors. Mombasa 74, Tokyo 68: Mombasa leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Mombasa 45, Tokyo 85: Tokyo leads by 40 points.
Good for families. Mombasa 45, Tokyo 95: Tokyo leads by 50 points.
Getting around. Mombasa 30, Tokyo 98: Tokyo leads by 68 points.
Shopping & style. Mombasa 35, Tokyo 99: Tokyo leads by 64 points.
Affordability. Mombasa 70, Tokyo 48: Mombasa leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Mombasa 22, Tokyo 86: Tokyo leads by 64 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Mombasa 40, Tokyo 78: Tokyo leads by 38 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Mombasa and Tokyo.

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.

Tokyo
Best match
80match

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

Tokyo in July

30 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
157 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
23 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
MombasaTokyo

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). Tokyo: 1991-2020 normals, Tokyo (3.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMombasaTokyo
Official languageEnglish, SwahiliJapanese
CurrencyKenyan Shilling (KES)Yen (JPY)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+9
Emergency numberPolice 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999Police 110, fire 119
Elevation50 m6 m
Main airportMoi International Airport (MBA)8 km from centre22 non-stop destinationsTokyo Haneda International Airport (HND)18 km from centre98 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureMombasaTokyo
City population1,208,33314,264,798
People per km²4,1006,501
Museums within 10 km0192
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Mombasa or Tokyo 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.