VacationSelector
The Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower, Nairobi
NairobiThe Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower
Palermo Cathedral, Palermo
PalermoPalermo Cathedral

Photos: Nairobi by Lmwangi, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Palermo by Antonino Giangrasso, Pexels License.

Nairobi or Palermo?

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
  • families
  • shopping

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

Choose Palermo for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Palermo’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, Palermo 77: Palermo leads by 73 points.
Food & drink. Nairobi 48, Palermo 81: Palermo leads by 33 points.
Culture & sights. Nairobi 35, Palermo 80: Palermo leads by 45 points.
Nightlife. Nairobi and Palermo are level on 58.
Nature & outdoors. Nairobi 84, Palermo 72: Nairobi leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Nairobi 28, Palermo 84: Palermo leads by 56 points.
Good for families. Nairobi 55, Palermo 44: Nairobi leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Nairobi 20, Palermo 50: Palermo leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Nairobi 45, Palermo 44: Nairobi leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Nairobi 60, Palermo 63: Palermo leads by 3 points.
Live music & performing arts. Nairobi 35, Palermo 62: Palermo leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Nairobi 25, Palermo 30: Palermo leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Nairobi and Palermo.

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 families with your weighting.

Palermo
Best match
62match

Wins on beaches 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.

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

Palermo in July

29 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
2 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
NairobiPalermo

Where the figures come from

Palermo 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.

Palermo's sunshine is measured 67 km from the centre, at Ustica.

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). Palermo: 1991-2020 (sunshine 1961-1990) normals, Palermo / Punta Raisi (24.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNairobiPalermo
Official languageEnglish, SwahiliItalian
CurrencyKenyan Shilling (KES)Euro (EUR)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999112
Elevation1,661 m14 m
Main airportJomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO)13 km from centre60 non-stop destinationsFalcone–Borsellino Airport (PMO)25 km from centre106 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureNairobiPalermo
City population5,545,000630,167
People per km²7,9673,924
Museums within 10 km442
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

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