VacationSelector
Swayambhunath with its prayer flags, Kathmandu
KathmanduSwayambhunath with its prayer flags
A bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay, Montego Bay
Montego BayA bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay

Photos: Kathmandu by Nabin K. Sapkota, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Montego Bay by Dre Dawkcide, Pexels License.

Kathmandu 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 Kathmandu for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

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

Choose Montego Bay for

  • beaches
  • families
  • 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. Kathmandu 4, Montego Bay 84: Montego Bay leads by 80 points.
Food & drink. Kathmandu 55, Montego Bay 50: Kathmandu leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Kathmandu 82, Montego Bay 28: Kathmandu leads by 54 points.
Nightlife. Kathmandu 36, Montego Bay 42: Montego Bay leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kathmandu 70, Montego Bay 65: Kathmandu leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Kathmandu 56, Montego Bay 50: Kathmandu leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Kathmandu 20, Montego Bay 48: Montego Bay leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Kathmandu 25, Montego Bay 20: Kathmandu leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Kathmandu 55, Montego Bay 25: Kathmandu leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Kathmandu 97, Montego Bay 38: Kathmandu leads by 59 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kathmandu 28, Montego Bay 32: Montego Bay leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kathmandu and Montego Bay are level on 45.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Kathmandu and Montego Bay.

Your match

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

Kathmandu
Best match
48match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Montego Bay
44match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Kathmandu in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
384 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
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
KathmanduMontego Bay

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Kathmandu: 1991-2020 normals, Kathmandu Airport (4.7 km from centre). Montego Bay: 1991-2020 normals, Montego Bay / Sangster (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKathmanduMontego Bay
Official languageNepaliEnglish, Jamaican Patois
CurrencyNepalese Rupee (NPR)Jamaican Dollar (JMD)
SocketsCM230 V, 50 HzAB116 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+5:45UTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 100, ambulance 102, fire 101Police 110/112/119/911, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation1,300 m19 m
Main airportTribhuvan International Airport (KTM)4 km from centre38 non-stop destinationsSangster International Airport (MBJ)4 km from centre48 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-10 days

By the numbers

MeasureKathmanduMontego Bay
City population845,767123,994
People per km²17,121-
Museums within 10 km90
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Kathmandu 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.