VacationSelector
The Massachusetts State House, Boston
BostonThe Massachusetts State House
A bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay, Montego Bay
Montego BayA bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay

Photos: Boston by Ajay Suresh, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Montego Bay by Dre Dawkcide, Pexels License.

Boston 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 Boston for

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

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

Choose Montego Bay for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • wellness

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. Boston 35, Montego Bay 84: Montego Bay leads by 49 points.
Food & drink. Boston 64, Montego Bay 50: Boston leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Boston 72, Montego Bay 28: Boston leads by 44 points.
Nightlife. Boston 47, Montego Bay 42: Boston leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Boston 60, Montego Bay 65: Montego Bay leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Boston 72, Montego Bay 50: Boston leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Boston 72, Montego Bay 48: Boston leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Boston 70, Montego Bay 20: Boston leads by 50 points.
Shopping & style. Boston 55, Montego Bay 25: Boston leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Boston 18, Montego Bay 38: Montego Bay leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Boston 72, Montego Bay 32: Boston leads by 40 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Boston 30, Montego Bay 45: Montego Bay leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Boston and Montego Bay.

Your match

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

Boston
Best match
56match

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

Montego Bay
44match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Boston in July

28 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
18 °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
BostonMontego Bay

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Boston: 1991-2020 normals, Boston Logan International (3.5 km from centre). Montego Bay: 1991-2020 normals, Montego Bay / Sangster (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBostonMontego Bay
Official language-English, Jamaican Patois
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Jamaican Dollar (JMD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB116 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number911Police 110/112/119/911, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation43 m19 m
Main airportBoston Logan International Airport (BOS)4 km from centre144 non-stop destinationsSangster International Airport (MBJ)4 km from centre48 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureBostonMontego Bay
City population675,647123,994
People per km²2,910-
Museums within 10 km510
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Boston 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). 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. 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.