VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
A bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay, Montego Bay
Montego BayA bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Montego Bay by Dre Dawkcide, Pexels License.

Alicante or Montego Bay?

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 Alicante for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • prices

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

Choose Montego Bay for

  • wellness
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Montego Bay’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. Alicante 82, Montego Bay 84: Montego Bay leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Montego Bay 50: Alicante leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Montego Bay 28: Alicante leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, Montego Bay 42: Alicante leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Montego Bay 65: Montego Bay leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Montego Bay 50: Alicante leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Montego Bay 48: Alicante leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Alicante 66, Montego Bay 20: Alicante leads by 46 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Montego Bay 25: Alicante leads by 19 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Montego Bay 38: Alicante leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Montego Bay 32: Alicante leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante 40, Montego Bay 45: Montego Bay leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and Montego Bay.

Your match

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

Alicante
Best match
59match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Montego Bay
44match

Wins on wellness and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Alicante in July

30 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Montego Bay in July

34 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
75 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
AlicanteMontego Bay

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). Montego Bay: 1991-2020 normals, Montego Bay / Sangster (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicanteMontego Bay
Official languageSpanishEnglish, Jamaican Patois
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Jamaican Dollar (JMD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB116 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112Police 110/112/119/911, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation3 m19 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsSangster International Airport (MBJ)4 km from centre48 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicanteMontego Bay
City population366,221123,994
People per km²1,819-
Museums within 10 km80
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Alicante or Montego Bay 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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. 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.