VacationSelector
The Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower, Nairobi
NairobiThe Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower
Ca' d'Zan, the Ringling mansion on Sarasota Bay, Sarasota
SarasotaCa' d'Zan, the Ringling mansion on Sarasota Bay

Photos: Nairobi by Lmwangi, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Sarasota by Oleg Yunakov, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Nairobi or Sarasota?

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

  • nightlife
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Sarasota for

  • beaches
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Sarasota’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, Sarasota 86: Sarasota leads by 82 points.
Food & drink. Nairobi 48, Sarasota 44: Nairobi leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Nairobi 35, Sarasota 45: Sarasota leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Nairobi 58, Sarasota 28: Nairobi leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Nairobi 84, Sarasota 55: Nairobi leads by 29 points.
Day trips. Nairobi 28, Sarasota 50: Sarasota leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Nairobi 55, Sarasota 68: Sarasota leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Nairobi 20, Sarasota 28: Sarasota leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Nairobi 45, Sarasota 40: Nairobi leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Nairobi 60, Sarasota 30: Nairobi leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Nairobi 35, Sarasota 58: Sarasota leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Nairobi 25, Sarasota 45: Sarasota leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Nairobi and Sarasota.

Your match

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

Nairobi
41match

Wins on nightlife and prices with your weighting.

Sarasota
Best match
48match

Wins on beaches and live music and the arts 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

Sarasota in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
195 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
NairobiSarasota

Where the figures come from

Sarasota 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.

Sarasota's sunshine is measured 70 km from the centre, at Tampa International Airport.

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). Sarasota: 2006-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Sarasota / Ballentine Manor (6.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNairobiSarasota
Official languageEnglish, Swahili-
CurrencyKenyan Shilling (KES)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999911
Elevation1,661 m7 m
Main airportJomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO)13 km from centre60 non-stop destinationsSarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ)7 km from centre70 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureNairobiSarasota
City population5,545,00054,842
People per km²7,967840
Museums within 10 km43
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-8 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Nairobi or Sarasota 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.