VacationSelector
The red five-storey pagoda of Tocho-ji, Fukuoka
FukuokaThe red five-storey pagoda of Tocho-ji
A bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay, Montego Bay
Montego BayA bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay

Photos: Fukuoka by Nick-D, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Montego Bay by Dre Dawkcide, Pexels License.

Fukuoka 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 Fukuoka for

  • getting around
  • shopping
  • day trips

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

Choose Montego Bay for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Fukuoka 50, Montego Bay 84: Montego Bay leads by 34 points.
Food & drink. Fukuoka 82, Montego Bay 50: Fukuoka leads by 32 points.
Culture & sights. Fukuoka 50, Montego Bay 28: Fukuoka leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Fukuoka 60, Montego Bay 42: Fukuoka leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Fukuoka 62, Montego Bay 65: Montego Bay leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Fukuoka 84, Montego Bay 50: Fukuoka leads by 34 points.
Good for families. Fukuoka 78, Montego Bay 48: Fukuoka leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Fukuoka 82, Montego Bay 20: Fukuoka leads by 62 points.
Shopping & style. Fukuoka 65, Montego Bay 25: Fukuoka leads by 40 points.
Affordability. Fukuoka 58, Montego Bay 38: Fukuoka leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Fukuoka 45, Montego Bay 32: Fukuoka leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Fukuoka 60, Montego Bay 45: Fukuoka leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Fukuoka and Montego Bay.

Your match

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

Fukuoka
Best match
65match

Wins on getting around and shopping with your weighting.

Montego Bay
44match

Wins on beaches 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.

Fukuoka in July

31 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
301 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
24 °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

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
FukuokaMontego Bay

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Fukuoka: 1991-2020 normals, Fukuoka (1.9 km from centre). Montego Bay: 1991-2020 normals, Montego Bay / Sangster (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFukuokaMontego Bay
Official languageJapaneseEnglish, Jamaican Patois
CurrencyYen (JPY)Jamaican Dollar (JMD)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionAB116 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+9UTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119Police 110/112/119/911, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation8 m19 m
Main airportFukuoka Airport (FUK)5 km from centre46 non-stop destinationsSangster International Airport (MBJ)4 km from centre48 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureFukuokaMontego Bay
City population1,603,043123,994
People per km²4,715-
Museums within 10 km230
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Fukuoka 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.