VacationSelector
The Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower, Nairobi
NairobiThe Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower
The cathedral facade, Siena
SienaThe cathedral facade

Photos: Nairobi by Lmwangi, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Siena by Raimond Spekking, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Nairobi or Siena?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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

Choose Siena for

  • day trips
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Siena’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, Siena 14: Siena leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Nairobi 48, Siena 62: Siena leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Nairobi 35, Siena 78: Siena leads by 43 points.
Nightlife. Nairobi 58, Siena 27: Nairobi leads by 31 points.
Nature & outdoors. Nairobi 84, Siena 65: Nairobi leads by 19 points.
Day trips. Nairobi 28, Siena 94: Siena leads by 66 points.
Good for families. Nairobi 55, Siena 38: Nairobi leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Nairobi 20, Siena 60: Siena leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. Nairobi 45, Siena 35: Nairobi leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Nairobi 60, Siena 42: Nairobi leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Nairobi 35, Siena 36: Siena leads by 1 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Nairobi 25, Siena 55: Siena leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Nairobi and Siena.

Your match

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

Nairobi
41match

Wins on nightlife and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Siena
Best match
51match

Wins on day trips 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
12 hdaylight a day

Siena in July

31 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
NairobiSiena

Where the figures come from

Siena's temperatures are measured 45 km from the centre, at Arezzo.

Siena 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). Siena: 2006-2017 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Arezzo (45 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNairobiSiena
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 m322 m
Main airportJomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO)13 km from centre60 non-stop destinationsFlorence Airport, Peretola (FLR)55 km from centre46 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureNairobiSiena
City population5,545,00052,812
People per km²7,967446
Museums within 10 km430
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km05

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Nairobi or Siena 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.