VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
The opera house on Place de la Comédie, Montpellier
MontpellierThe opera house on Place de la Comédie

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Montpellier by Peter, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Alicante or Montpellier?

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

  • beaches
  • prices
  • families

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

Choose Montpellier for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Montpellier’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, Montpellier 64: Alicante leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Montpellier 64: Alicante leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Montpellier 60: Montpellier leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, Montpellier 56: Alicante leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Montpellier 72: Montpellier leads by 9 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Montpellier 85: Montpellier leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Montpellier 62: Alicante leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Alicante 66, Montpellier 74: Montpellier leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Montpellier 47: Montpellier leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Montpellier 50: Alicante leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Montpellier 63: Montpellier leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante 40, Montpellier 42: Montpellier leads by 2 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and Montpellier.

Your match

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

Alicante
59match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Montpellier
Best match
62match

Wins on live music and the arts 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.

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

Montpellier in July

30 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
17 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
AlicanteMontpellier

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). Montpellier: 1991-2020 normals, Montpellier (7.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicanteMontpellier
Official languageSpanishFrench
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation3 m7 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsMontpellier-Méditerranée Airport (MPL)8 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicanteMontpellier
City population366,221310,240
People per km²1,8195,452
Museums within 10 km814
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months2 months

Where else could you go?

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