VacationSelector
The Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower, Nairobi
NairobiThe Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower
Sugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay, Rio de Janeiro
Rio de JaneiroSugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay

Photos: Nairobi by Lmwangi, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Rio de Janeiro by Arne Müseler, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, cropped.

Nairobi or Rio de Janeiro?

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

  • families

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

Choose Rio de Janeiro for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on Rio de Janeiro’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, Rio de Janeiro 92: Rio de Janeiro leads by 88 points.
Food & drink. Nairobi 48, Rio de Janeiro 62: Rio de Janeiro leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Nairobi 35, Rio de Janeiro 68: Rio de Janeiro leads by 33 points.
Nightlife. Nairobi 58, Rio de Janeiro 80: Rio de Janeiro leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Nairobi 84, Rio de Janeiro 90: Rio de Janeiro leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Nairobi 28, Rio de Janeiro 50: Rio de Janeiro leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Nairobi 55, Rio de Janeiro 50: Nairobi leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Nairobi 20, Rio de Janeiro 44: Rio de Janeiro leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Nairobi 45, Rio de Janeiro 50: Rio de Janeiro leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Nairobi and Rio de Janeiro are level on 60.
Live music & performing arts. Nairobi 35, Rio de Janeiro 66: Rio de Janeiro leads by 31 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Nairobi 25, Rio de Janeiro 30: Rio de Janeiro leads by 5 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Nairobi and Rio de Janeiro.

Your match

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

Nairobi
41match

Wins on families with your weighting.

Rio de Janeiro
Best match
62match

Wins on beaches 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.

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

Rio de Janeiro in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
45 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
22 °Csea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
NairobiRio de Janeiro

Where the figures come from

Rio de Janeiro 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. Nairobi: 1991-2020 normals, Nairobi ACC/FIC/RCC/MET/COM/ (13.3 km from centre). Rio de Janeiro: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureNairobiRio de Janeiro
Official languageEnglish, SwahiliPortuguese
CurrencyKenyan Shilling (KES)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC-3
Emergency numberPolice 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation1,661 m31 m
Main airportJomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO)13 km from centre60 non-stop destinationsRio de Janeiro Galeão – Tom Jobim International Airport (GIG)12 km from centre54 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureNairobiRio de Janeiro
City population5,545,0006,211,223
People per km²7,9674,930
Museums within 10 km469
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km03
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 Rio de Janeiro 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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.