VacationSelector
The Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower, Nairobi
NairobiThe Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower
The US Capitol, Washington DC
Washington DCThe US Capitol

Photos: Nairobi by Lmwangi, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Washington DC by Guohua Song, Pexels License.

Nairobi or Washington DC?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

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

Choose Washington DC for

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Washington DC’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, Washington DC 12: Washington DC leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Nairobi 48, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 19 points.
Culture & sights. Nairobi 35, Washington DC 84: Washington DC leads by 49 points.
Nightlife. Nairobi 58, Washington DC 57: Nairobi leads by 1 points.
Nature & outdoors. Nairobi 84, Washington DC 64: Nairobi leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Nairobi 28, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 45 points.
Good for families. Nairobi 55, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Nairobi 20, Washington DC 72: Washington DC leads by 52 points.
Shopping & style. Nairobi 45, Washington DC 52: Washington DC leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Nairobi 60, Washington DC 28: Nairobi leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Nairobi 35, Washington DC 67: Washington DC leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Nairobi 25, Washington DC 26: Washington DC leads by 1 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Nairobi and Washington DC.

Your match

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

Nairobi
41match

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

Washington DC
Best match
56match

Wins on getting around 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

Washington DC in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
108 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
NairobiWashington DC

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). Washington DC: 1991-2020 normals, Washington National Airport (5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNairobiWashington DC
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 m72 m
Main airportJomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO)13 km from centre60 non-stop destinationsRonald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)5 km from centre105 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureNairobiWashington DC
City population5,545,000689,545
People per km²7,9673,896
Museums within 10 km498
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-3 months

Where else could you go?

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