VacationSelector
The tusks over Moi Avenue, Mombasa
MombasaThe tusks over Moi Avenue
Rowing boats below the ghats in the morning light, Varanasi
VaranasiRowing boats below the ghats in the morning light

Photos: Mombasa by Rob Oo, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Varanasi by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Mombasa or Varanasi?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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

Choose Varanasi for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Varanasi’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, Varanasi 4: Mombasa leads by 78 points.
Food & drink. Mombasa 60, Varanasi 55: Mombasa leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Mombasa 55, Varanasi 80: Varanasi leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Mombasa 46, Varanasi 10: Mombasa leads by 36 points.
Nature & outdoors. Mombasa 74, Varanasi 18: Mombasa leads by 56 points.
Day trips. Mombasa 45, Varanasi 42: Mombasa leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Mombasa 45, Varanasi 5: Mombasa leads by 40 points.
Getting around. Mombasa 30, Varanasi 28: Mombasa leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Mombasa 35, Varanasi 55: Varanasi leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Mombasa 70, Varanasi 92: Varanasi leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Mombasa 22, Varanasi 58: Varanasi leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Mombasa 40, Varanasi 30: Mombasa leads by 10 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Mombasa and Varanasi.

Your match

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

Mombasa
Best match
50match

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

Varanasi
40match

Wins on live music and the arts and culture and sights 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

Varanasi in July

35 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
249 mmrain in the month
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
MombasaVaranasi

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.

Varanasi has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Mombasa: 1991-2020 normals, Mombasa (5.8 km from centre). Varanasi: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureMombasaVaranasi
Official languageEnglish, SwahiliHindi, English
CurrencyKenyan Shilling (KES)Indian Rupee (INR)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzCM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+5:30
Emergency numberPolice 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999108 or 112
Elevation50 m76 m
Main airportMoi International Airport (MBA)8 km from centre22 non-stop destinationsLal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS)21 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days-

By the numbers

MeasureMombasaVaranasi
City population1,208,3331,198,491
People per km²4,10014,598
Museums within 10 km02
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Mombasa or Varanasi 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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.