VacationSelector
The Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower, Nairobi
NairobiThe Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower
The steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi, New Orleans
New OrleansThe steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi

Photos: Nairobi by Lmwangi, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; New Orleans by Bernard Spragg, CC0.

Nairobi or New Orleans?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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

Choose New Orleans for

  • live music and the arts
  • food and drink
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on New Orleans’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, New Orleans 14: New Orleans leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Nairobi 48, New Orleans 84: New Orleans leads by 36 points.
Culture & sights. Nairobi 35, New Orleans 67: New Orleans leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. Nairobi 58, New Orleans 85: New Orleans leads by 27 points.
Nature & outdoors. Nairobi 84, New Orleans 42: Nairobi leads by 42 points.
Day trips. Nairobi 28, New Orleans 52: New Orleans leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Nairobi and New Orleans are level on 55.
Getting around. Nairobi 20, New Orleans 55: New Orleans leads by 35 points.
Shopping & style. Nairobi 45, New Orleans 54: New Orleans leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Nairobi 60, New Orleans 40: Nairobi leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Nairobi 35, New Orleans 80: New Orleans leads by 45 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Nairobi and New Orleans are level on 25.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Nairobi and New Orleans.

Your match

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

Nairobi
41match

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

New Orleans
Best match
54match

Wins on live music and the arts and food and drink 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

New Orleans in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
169 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
NairobiNew Orleans

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). New Orleans: 1991-2020 normals, New Orleans Airport (2.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNairobiNew Orleans
Official languageEnglish, Swahili-
CurrencyKenyan Shilling (KES)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999911
Elevation1,661 m-2 m
Main airportJomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO)13 km from centre60 non-stop destinationsLouis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY)18 km from centre51 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureNairobiNew Orleans
City population5,545,000383,997
People per km²7,967423
Museums within 10 km416
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-7 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Nairobi or New Orleans 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.