VacationSelector
The Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower, Nairobi
NairobiThe Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower
Seven Mile Beach, Negril
NegrilSeven Mile Beach

Photos: Nairobi by Lmwangi, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Negril by gustavo.kunst, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Nairobi or Negril?

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 Nairobi for

  • shopping
  • culture and sights
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Negril for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Negril’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. Nairobi 4, Negril 93: Negril leads by 89 points.
Food & drink. Nairobi 48, Negril 36: Nairobi leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Nairobi 35, Negril 8: Nairobi leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Nairobi 58, Negril 40: Nairobi leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Nairobi 84, Negril 60: Nairobi leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Nairobi 28, Negril 35: Negril leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Nairobi 55, Negril 45: Nairobi leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Nairobi 20, Negril 30: Negril leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Nairobi 45, Negril 15: Nairobi leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Nairobi 60, Negril 44: Nairobi leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Nairobi 35, Negril 33: Nairobi leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Nairobi 25, Negril 52: Negril leads by 27 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Nairobi and Negril.

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

Nairobi
41match

Wins on shopping and culture and sights with your weighting.

Negril
41match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Nairobi in July

24 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
11 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
12 hdaylight a day

Negril in July

34 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
174 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
NairobiNegril

Where the figures come from

Negril's temperatures are measured 52 km from the centre, at Montego Bay / Sangster.

Negril 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. Nairobi: 1991-2020 normals, Nairobi ACC/FIC/RCC/MET/COM/ (13.3 km from centre). Negril: 1991-2020 normals, Montego Bay / Sangster (51.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNairobiNegril
Official languageEnglish, SwahiliEnglish, Jamaican Patois
CurrencyKenyan Shilling (KES)Jamaican Dollar (JMD)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzAB116 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+3UTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999Police 110/112/119/911, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation1,661 m10 m
Main airportJomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO)13 km from centre60 non-stop destinationsSangster International Airport (MBJ)52 km from centre48 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureNairobiNegril
City population5,545,0004,500
People per km²7,967-
Museums within 10 km40
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Nairobi or Negril 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. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.