VacationSelector
A jetty on the lagoon, Faro
FaroA jetty on the lagoon
A bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay, Montego Bay
Montego BayA bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay

Photos: Faro by Efrem Efre, Pexels License; Montego Bay by Dre Dawkcide, Pexels License.

Faro 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 Faro for

  • getting around
  • prices
  • day trips

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

Choose Montego Bay for

  • wellness
  • beaches
  • nightlife

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. Faro 74, Montego Bay 84: Montego Bay leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Faro 48, Montego Bay 50: Montego Bay leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Faro 35, Montego Bay 28: Faro leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Faro 32, Montego Bay 42: Montego Bay leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Faro 62, Montego Bay 65: Montego Bay leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Faro 64, Montego Bay 50: Faro leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Faro 60, Montego Bay 48: Faro leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Faro 60, Montego Bay 20: Faro leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. Faro 35, Montego Bay 25: Faro leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Faro 60, Montego Bay 38: Faro leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Faro 30, Montego Bay 32: Montego Bay leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Faro 33, Montego Bay 45: Montego Bay leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Faro and Montego Bay.

Your match

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

Faro
Best match
49match

Wins on getting around and prices with your weighting.

Montego Bay
44match

Wins on wellness and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Faro in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
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
FaroMontego Bay

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Faro: 1991-2020 normals, Faro / Aeroporto (2.8 km from centre). Montego Bay: 1991-2020 normals, Montego Bay / Sangster (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFaroMontego Bay
Official languagePortugueseEnglish, Jamaican Patois
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Jamaican Dollar (JMD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB116 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112Police 110/112/119/911, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation10 m19 m
Main airportFaro - Gago Coutinho International Airport (FAO)3 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsSangster International Airport (MBJ)4 km from centre48 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureFaroMontego Bay
City population64,560123,994
People per km²319-
Museums within 10 km20
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Faro 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.