VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
A bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay, Montego Bay
Montego BayA bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Montego Bay by Dre Dawkcide, Pexels License.

Amsterdam 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 Amsterdam for

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Montego Bay for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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. Amsterdam 25, Montego Bay 84: Montego Bay leads by 59 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Montego Bay 50: Amsterdam leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Montego Bay 28: Amsterdam leads by 54 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Montego Bay 42: Amsterdam leads by 35 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Montego Bay 65: Montego Bay leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Montego Bay 50: Amsterdam leads by 37 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Montego Bay 48: Amsterdam leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Montego Bay 20: Amsterdam leads by 66 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Montego Bay 25: Amsterdam leads by 43 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Montego Bay 38: Montego Bay leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Montego Bay 32: Amsterdam leads by 46 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, Montego Bay 45: Montego Bay leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amsterdam and Montego Bay.

Your match

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

Amsterdam
Best match
62match

Wins on getting around and culture and sights with your weighting.

Montego Bay
44match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Amsterdam in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
84 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
16 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
AmsterdamMontego Bay

Where the figures come from

Amsterdam 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.

Amsterdam's sunshine is measured 35 km from the centre, at De Bilt.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Amsterdam: 1991-2020 normals, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (12 km from centre). Montego Bay: 1991-2020 normals, Montego Bay / Sangster (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamMontego Bay
Official languageDutchEnglish, 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
Elevation-2 m19 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsSangster International Airport (MBJ)4 km from centre48 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamMontego Bay
City population921,468123,994
People per km²4,208-
Museums within 10 km1010
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Amsterdam 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.