VacationSelector
A jetty on the lagoon, Faro
FaroA jetty on the lagoon
The opera house on Place de la Comédie, Montpellier
MontpellierThe opera house on Place de la Comédie

Photos: Faro by Efrem Efre, Pexels License; Montpellier by Peter, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Faro 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 Faro for

  • beaches
  • prices

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

Choose Montpellier for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • nightlife

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. Faro 74, Montpellier 64: Faro leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Faro 48, Montpellier 64: Montpellier leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Faro 35, Montpellier 60: Montpellier leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Faro 32, Montpellier 56: Montpellier leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Faro 62, Montpellier 72: Montpellier leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Faro 64, Montpellier 85: Montpellier leads by 21 points.
Good for families. Faro 60, Montpellier 62: Montpellier leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Faro 60, Montpellier 74: Montpellier leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Faro 35, Montpellier 47: Montpellier leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Faro 60, Montpellier 50: Faro leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Faro 30, Montpellier 63: Montpellier leads by 33 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Faro 33, Montpellier 42: Montpellier leads by 9 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Faro
49match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Montpellier
Best match
62match

Wins on live music and the arts and culture and sights 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

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
FaroMontpellier

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Faro: 1991-2020 normals, Faro / Aeroporto (2.8 km from centre). Montpellier: 1991-2020 normals, Montpellier (7.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFaroMontpellier
Official languagePortugueseFrench
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation10 m7 m
Main airportFaro - Gago Coutinho International Airport (FAO)3 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsMontpellier-Méditerranée Airport (MPL)8 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureFaroMontpellier
City population64,560310,240
People per km²3195,452
Museums within 10 km214
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months2 months

Where else could you go?

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