VacationSelector
The Texas State Capitol under a blue sky, Austin
AustinThe Texas State Capitol under a blue sky
A bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay, Montego Bay
Montego BayA bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay

Photos: Austin by LoneStarMike, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Montego Bay by Dre Dawkcide, Pexels License.

Austin 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 Austin for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Austin’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. Austin 30, Montego Bay 84: Montego Bay leads by 54 points.
Food & drink. Austin 66, Montego Bay 50: Austin leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Austin 40, Montego Bay 28: Austin leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Austin 65, Montego Bay 42: Austin leads by 23 points.
Nature & outdoors. Austin 57, Montego Bay 65: Montego Bay leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Austin 58, Montego Bay 50: Austin leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Austin 55, Montego Bay 48: Austin leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Austin 30, Montego Bay 20: Austin leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Austin 45, Montego Bay 25: Austin leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Austin 33, Montego Bay 38: Montego Bay leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Austin 77, Montego Bay 32: Austin leads by 45 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Austin 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: Austin and Montego Bay.

Your match

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

Austin
Best match
50match

Wins on live music and the arts and nightlife 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.

Austin in July

36 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
49 mmrain in the month
10 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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
AustinMontego Bay

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Austin: 1991-2020 normals, Camp Mabry/Austin City Asos (3.7 km from centre). Montego Bay: 1991-2020 normals, Montego Bay / Sangster (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAustinMontego Bay
Official language-English, Jamaican Patois
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Jamaican Dollar (JMD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB116 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number911Police 110/112/119/911, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation149 m19 m
Main airportAustin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)13 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsSangster International Airport (MBJ)4 km from centre48 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureAustinMontego Bay
City population961,855123,994
People per km²1,217-
Museums within 10 km210
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Austin 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). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.

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.