VacationSelector
The Story Bridge from Howard Smith Wharves, Brisbane
BrisbaneThe Story Bridge from Howard Smith Wharves
A bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay, Montego Bay
Montego BayA bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay

Photos: Brisbane by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Montego Bay by Dre Dawkcide, Pexels License.

Brisbane 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 Brisbane for

  • getting around
  • families
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Brisbane’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. Brisbane 55, Montego Bay 84: Montego Bay leads by 29 points.
Food & drink. Brisbane 60, Montego Bay 50: Brisbane leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Brisbane 42, Montego Bay 28: Brisbane leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Brisbane 55, Montego Bay 42: Brisbane leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Brisbane 74, Montego Bay 65: Brisbane leads by 9 points.
Day trips. Brisbane and Montego Bay are level on 50.
Good for families. Brisbane 78, Montego Bay 48: Brisbane leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Brisbane 62, Montego Bay 20: Brisbane leads by 42 points.
Shopping & style. Brisbane 45, Montego Bay 25: Brisbane leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Brisbane 33, Montego Bay 38: Montego Bay leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Brisbane 55, Montego Bay 32: Brisbane leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Brisbane 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: Brisbane and Montego Bay.

Your match

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

Brisbane
Best match
54match

Wins on getting around and families 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.

Brisbane in July

22 °Cdaytime high
10 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
20 °Csea
11 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
BrisbaneMontego Bay

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Brisbane: 1991-2020 normals, Brisbane (4.5 km from centre). Montego Bay: 1991-2020 normals, Montego Bay / Sangster (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBrisbaneMontego Bay
Official languageEnglishEnglish, Jamaican Patois
CurrencyAustralian Dollar (AUD)Jamaican Dollar (JMD)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzAB116 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+10UTC-5
Emergency number000Police 110/112/119/911, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation0 m19 m
Main airportBrisbane International Airport (BNE)13 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsSangster International Airport (MBJ)4 km from centre48 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureBrisbaneMontego Bay
City population2,706,966123,994
People per km²171-
Museums within 10 km160
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C9 months12 months

Where else could you go?

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