VacationSelector
The Istiqlal Mosque, Jakarta
JakartaThe Istiqlal Mosque
A bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay, Montego Bay
Montego BayA bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay

Photos: Jakarta by Antonyus Bunjamin, Pexels License; Montego Bay by Dre Dawkcide, Pexels License.

Jakarta 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 Jakarta for

  • prices
  • shopping
  • food and drink

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

Choose Montego Bay for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

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. Jakarta 28, Montego Bay 84: Montego Bay leads by 56 points.
Food & drink. Jakarta 78, Montego Bay 50: Jakarta leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. Jakarta 48, Montego Bay 28: Jakarta leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Jakarta 66, Montego Bay 42: Jakarta leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Jakarta 30, Montego Bay 65: Montego Bay leads by 35 points.
Day trips. Jakarta 45, Montego Bay 50: Montego Bay leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Jakarta 50, Montego Bay 48: Jakarta leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Jakarta 36, Montego Bay 20: Jakarta leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Jakarta 64, Montego Bay 25: Jakarta leads by 39 points.
Affordability. Jakarta 80, Montego Bay 38: Jakarta leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Jakarta 42, Montego Bay 32: Jakarta leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Jakarta 46, Montego Bay 45: Jakarta leads by 1 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Jakarta and Montego Bay.

Your match

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

Jakarta
Best match
51match

Wins on prices 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.

Jakarta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
85 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
12 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
JakartaMontego Bay

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Jakarta: 1991-2020 normals, Jakarta / Observatory (1.1 km from centre). Montego Bay: 1991-2020 normals, Montego Bay / Sangster (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJakartaMontego Bay
Official languageIndonesianEnglish, Jamaican Patois
CurrencyRupiah (IDR)Jamaican Dollar (JMD)
SocketsCF50 HzAB116 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-5
Emergency number112Police 110/112/119/911, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation91 m19 m
Main airportSoekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK)20 km from centre89 non-stop destinationsSangster International Airport (MBJ)4 km from centre48 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-10 days

By the numbers

MeasureJakartaMontego Bay
City population11,135,191123,994
People per km²16,821-
Museums within 10 km440
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Jakarta 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). 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.