VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
The opera house on Place de la Comédie, Montpellier
MontpellierThe opera house on Place de la Comédie

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Montpellier by Peter, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Chicago or Montpellier?

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 Chicago for

  • shopping
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Montpellier for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Montpellier’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. Chicago 50, Montpellier 64: Montpellier leads by 14 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Montpellier 64: Chicago leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Montpellier 60: Chicago leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Montpellier 56: Chicago leads by 21 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Montpellier 72: Montpellier leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Montpellier 85: Montpellier leads by 43 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Montpellier 62: Chicago leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Montpellier 74: Montpellier leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Montpellier 47: Chicago leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Montpellier 50: Montpellier leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Montpellier 63: Chicago leads by 19 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Montpellier 42: Montpellier leads by 9 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chicago and Montpellier.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Chicago
62match

Wins on shopping and nightlife with your weighting.

Montpellier
62match

Wins on day trips 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.

Chicago in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
102 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Montpellier in July

30 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
17 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoMontpellier

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Montpellier: 1991-2020 normals, Montpellier (7.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoMontpellier
Official language-French
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation179 m7 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsMontpellier-Méditerranée Airport (MPL)8 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoMontpellier
City population2,746,388310,240
People per km²4,5295,452
Museums within 10 km4414
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chicago or Montpellier 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.