VacationSelector
The Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower, Nairobi
NairobiThe Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower
York Minster from the city walls, York
YorkYork Minster from the city walls

Photos: Nairobi by Lmwangi, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; York by PAUL FARMER, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Nairobi or York?

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 York for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on York’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, York 14: York leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Nairobi 48, York 42: Nairobi leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Nairobi 35, York 70: York leads by 35 points.
Nightlife. Nairobi 58, York 36: Nairobi leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Nairobi 84, York 62: Nairobi leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Nairobi 28, York 80: York leads by 52 points.
Good for families. Nairobi 55, York 60: York leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Nairobi 20, York 72: York leads by 52 points.
Shopping & style. Nairobi 45, York 46: York leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Nairobi 60, York 38: Nairobi leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Nairobi 35, York 38: York leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Nairobi 25, York 34: York leads by 9 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Nairobi and York.

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.

York
Best match
49match

Wins on day trips and getting around 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

York in July

21 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
62 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
NairobiYork

Where the figures come from

York 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.

York's sunshine is measured 48 km from the centre, at Leeming.

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). York: 1991-2020 normals, Linton-On-Ouse (14.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNairobiYork
Official languageEnglish, SwahiliEnglish
CurrencyKenyan Shilling (KES)Pound Sterling (GBP)
SocketsG240 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+3UTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999112 or 999
Elevation1,661 m25 m
Main airportJomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO)13 km from centre60 non-stop destinationsLeeds Bradford Airport (LBA)39 km from centre69 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days8 days

By the numbers

MeasureNairobiYork
City population5,545,000208,400
People per km²7,967766
Museums within 10 km424
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02

Where else could you go?

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