VacationSelector
Philae temple on the Nile, Aswan
AswanPhilae temple on the Nile
A bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay, Montego Bay
Montego BayA bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay

Photos: Aswan by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Montego Bay by Dre Dawkcide, Pexels License.

Aswan 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 Aswan for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

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

Choose Montego Bay for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

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. Aswan 10, Montego Bay 84: Montego Bay leads by 74 points.
Food & drink. Aswan 30, Montego Bay 50: Montego Bay leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Aswan 64, Montego Bay 28: Aswan leads by 36 points.
Nightlife. Aswan 8, Montego Bay 42: Montego Bay leads by 34 points.
Nature & outdoors. Aswan 45, Montego Bay 65: Montego Bay leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Aswan 52, Montego Bay 50: Aswan leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Aswan 32, Montego Bay 48: Montego Bay leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Aswan 40, Montego Bay 20: Aswan leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Aswan 30, Montego Bay 25: Aswan leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Aswan 92, Montego Bay 38: Aswan leads by 54 points.
Live music & performing arts. Aswan 14, Montego Bay 32: Montego Bay leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Aswan 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: Aswan and Montego Bay.

Your match

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

Aswan
38match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Montego Bay
Best match
44match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Aswan in July

42 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 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°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
AswanMontego Bay

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Aswan: 1991-2020 normals, Asswan (18 km from centre). Montego Bay: 1991-2020 normals, Montego Bay / Sangster (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAswanMontego Bay
Official languageArabicEnglish, Jamaican Patois
CurrencyEgyptian Pound (EGP)Jamaican Dollar (JMD)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzAB116 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 122, ambulance 123, fire 180Police 110/112/119/911, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation99 m19 m
Main airportAswan International Airport (ASW)16 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsSangster International Airport (MBJ)4 km from centre48 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureAswanMontego Bay
City population401,890123,994
People per km²1,072-
Museums within 10 km30
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Aswan 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. 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.