VacationSelector
The Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower, Nairobi
NairobiThe Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower
Fishermen on the rocks at Playa Santa Teresa at sunset, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica
Santa Teresa, Costa RicaFishermen on the rocks at Playa Santa Teresa at sunset

Photos: Nairobi by Lmwangi, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Santa Teresa, Costa Rica by Christopher Crouzet, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Nairobi or Santa Teresa, Costa Rica?

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
  • shopping
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Santa Teresa, Costa Rica for

  • beaches
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Teresa, Costa Rica’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, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 84: Santa Teresa, Costa Rica leads by 80 points.
Food & drink. Nairobi 48, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 40: Nairobi leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Nairobi 35, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 4: Nairobi leads by 31 points.
Nightlife. Nairobi 58, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 30: Nairobi leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Nairobi 84, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 78: Nairobi leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Nairobi 28, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 12: Nairobi leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Nairobi 55, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 35: Nairobi leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Nairobi 20, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 15: Nairobi leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Nairobi 45, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 12: Nairobi leads by 33 points.
Affordability. Nairobi 60, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 25: Nairobi leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Nairobi 35, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 8: Nairobi leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Nairobi 25, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 70: Santa Teresa, Costa Rica leads by 45 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Nairobi and Santa Teresa, Costa Rica.

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 shopping with your weighting.

Santa Teresa, Costa Rica
34match

Wins on beaches and wellness 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

Santa Teresa, Costa Rica in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
218 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
NairobiSanta Teresa, Costa Rica

Where the figures come from

Santa Teresa, Costa Rica's temperatures are measured 52 km from the centre, at Puntarenas.

Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 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). Santa Teresa, Costa Rica: 1961-1990 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Puntarenas (51.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNairobiSanta Teresa, Costa Rica
Official languageEnglish, SwahiliSpanish
CurrencyKenyan Shilling (KES)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC-6
Emergency numberPolice 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999911
Elevation1,661 m19 m
Main airportJomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO)13 km from centre60 non-stop destinationsDaniel Oduber Quirós International Airport (LIR)113 km from centre30 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureNairobiSanta Teresa, Costa Rica
City population5,545,000-
People per km²7,967-
Museums within 10 km40
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 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. 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.