VacationSelector
Galway Cathedral from the River Corrib, Galway
GalwayGalway Cathedral from the River Corrib
Seven Mile Beach, Negril
NegrilSeven Mile Beach

Photos: Galway by Dieglop, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Negril by gustavo.kunst, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Galway or Negril?

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 Galway for

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Negril for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Negril’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. Galway 28, Negril 93: Negril leads by 65 points.
Food & drink. Galway 45, Negril 36: Galway leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Galway 33, Negril 8: Galway leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Galway 50, Negril 40: Galway leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Galway 78, Negril 60: Galway leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Galway 56, Negril 35: Galway leads by 21 points.
Good for families. Galway 42, Negril 45: Negril leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Galway 58, Negril 30: Galway leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Galway 38, Negril 15: Galway leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Galway 28, Negril 44: Negril leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Galway 57, Negril 33: Galway leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Galway 28, Negril 52: Negril leads by 24 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Galway and Negril.

Your match

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

Galway
Best match
45match

Wins on getting around and culture and sights with your weighting.

Negril
41match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Galway in July

20 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
91 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Negril in July

34 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
174 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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
GalwayNegril

Where the figures come from

Galway's temperatures are measured 64 km from the centre, at Shannon Airport.

Galway has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Negril's temperatures are measured 52 km from the centre, at Montego Bay / Sangster.

Negril has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Galway: 1991-2020 normals, Shannon Airport (64.2 km from centre). Negril: 1991-2020 normals, Montego Bay / Sangster (51.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGalwayNegril
Official languageEnglish, IrishEnglish, Jamaican Patois
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Jamaican Dollar (JMD)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzAB116 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112Police 110/112/119/911, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation25 m10 m
Main airportShannon Airport (SNN)64 km from centre39 non-stop destinationsSangster International Airport (MBJ)52 km from centre48 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureGalwayNegril
City population83,4564,500
People per km²1,563-
Museums within 10 km40
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Galway or Negril 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.