VacationSelector
The tusks over Moi Avenue, Mombasa
MombasaThe tusks over Moi Avenue
Valletta from the water, Valletta
VallettaValletta from the water

Photos: Mombasa by Rob Oo, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Valletta by Pho Tomass, Pexels License.

Mombasa or Valletta?

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

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

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

Choose Valletta for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Valletta’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, Valletta 68: Mombasa leads by 14 points.
Food & drink. Mombasa 60, Valletta 55: Mombasa leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Mombasa 55, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 21 points.
Nightlife. Mombasa and Valletta are level on 46.
Nature & outdoors. Mombasa 74, Valletta 56: Mombasa leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Mombasa 45, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 31 points.
Good for families. Mombasa 45, Valletta 58: Valletta leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Mombasa 30, Valletta 62: Valletta leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Mombasa 35, Valletta 38: Valletta leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Mombasa 70, Valletta 50: Mombasa leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Mombasa 22, Valletta 44: Valletta leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Mombasa 40, Valletta 32: Mombasa leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Mombasa and Valletta.

Your match

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

Mombasa
50match

Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Valletta
Best match
55match

Wins on getting around and day trips 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

Valletta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
MombasaValletta

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). Valletta: 1991-2020 normals, Luqa (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMombasaValletta
Official languageEnglish, SwahiliEnglish, Maltese
CurrencyKenyan Shilling (KES)Euro (EUR)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999112
Elevation50 m56 m
Main airportMoi International Airport (MBA)8 km from centre22 non-stop destinationsMalta International Airport (MLA)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureMombasaValletta
City population1,208,3335,197
People per km²4,1006,496
Museums within 10 km016
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km23
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 Valletta 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.