VacationSelector
The Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower, Nairobi
NairobiThe Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower
Portofino and its bay from the hillside, Portofino
PortofinoPortofino and its bay from the hillside

Photos: Nairobi by Lmwangi, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Portofino by Michal Osmenda, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Nairobi or Portofino?

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

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Portofino for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Portofino’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, Portofino 60: Portofino leads by 56 points.
Food & drink. Nairobi 48, Portofino 36: Nairobi leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Nairobi 35, Portofino 22: Nairobi leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Nairobi 58, Portofino 14: Nairobi leads by 44 points.
Nature & outdoors. Nairobi 84, Portofino 77: Nairobi leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Nairobi 28, Portofino 76: Portofino leads by 48 points.
Good for families. Nairobi 55, Portofino 33: Nairobi leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Nairobi 20, Portofino 50: Portofino leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Nairobi 45, Portofino 29: Nairobi leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Nairobi 60, Portofino 9: Nairobi leads by 51 points.
Live music & performing arts. Nairobi 35, Portofino 7: Nairobi leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Nairobi 25, Portofino 42: Portofino leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Nairobi and Portofino.

Your match

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

Nairobi
Best match
41match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Portofino
38match

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

Portofino in July

27 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
32 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
NairobiPortofino

Where the figures come from

Portofino's temperatures are measured 31 km from the centre, at Genova / Sestri.

Portofino 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). Portofino: 1991-2020 normals, Genova / Sestri (31 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNairobiPortofino
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 m20 m
Main airportJomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO)13 km from centre60 non-stop destinationsGenoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport (GOA)32 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureNairobiPortofino
City population5,545,000355
People per km²7,967142
Museums within 10 km414
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C-4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Nairobi or Portofino 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.