VacationSelector
The Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower, Nairobi
NairobiThe Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower
The Winchester Mystery House, San Jose
San JoseThe Winchester Mystery House

Photos: Nairobi by Lmwangi, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; San Jose by Roxanna Salceda, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Nairobi or San Jose?

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
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose San Jose for

  • day trips
  • beaches
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on San Jose’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, San Jose 30: San Jose leads by 26 points.
Food & drink. Nairobi 48, San Jose 56: San Jose leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Nairobi 35, San Jose 36: San Jose leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Nairobi 58, San Jose 33: Nairobi leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Nairobi 84, San Jose 72: Nairobi leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Nairobi 28, San Jose 78: San Jose leads by 50 points.
Good for families. Nairobi 55, San Jose 65: San Jose leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Nairobi 20, San Jose 30: San Jose leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Nairobi 45, San Jose 48: San Jose leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Nairobi 60, San Jose 20: Nairobi leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Nairobi 35, San Jose 38: San Jose leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Nairobi 25, San Jose 30: San Jose leads by 5 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Nairobi
41match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

San Jose
Best match
45match

Wins on day trips and beaches 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

San Jose in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
14 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
NairobiSan Jose

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). San Jose: 1991-2020 normals, San Jose / Santa Clara Trailer Village (8.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNairobiSan Jose
Official languageEnglish, Swahili-
CurrencyKenyan Shilling (KES)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999911
Elevation1,661 m25 m
Main airportJomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO)13 km from centre60 non-stop destinationsMineta San Jose International Airport (SJC)8 km from centre38 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureNairobiSan Jose
City population5,545,0001,013,240
People per km²7,9672,167
Museums within 10 km419
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Nairobi or San Jose 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.