VacationSelector
Swayambhunath with its prayer flags, Kathmandu
KathmanduSwayambhunath with its prayer flags
The limestone terraces of Dunn's River Falls, Ocho Rios
Ocho RiosThe limestone terraces of Dunn's River Falls

Photos: Kathmandu by Nabin K. Sapkota, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Ocho Rios by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Kathmandu or Ocho Rios?

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

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • shopping

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

Choose Ocho Rios for

  • beaches
  • families
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Ocho Rios’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, Ocho Rios 78: Ocho Rios leads by 74 points.
Food & drink. Kathmandu 55, Ocho Rios 42: Kathmandu leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Kathmandu 82, Ocho Rios 16: Kathmandu leads by 66 points.
Nightlife. Kathmandu 36, Ocho Rios 28: Kathmandu leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kathmandu 70, Ocho Rios 72: Ocho Rios leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Kathmandu and Ocho Rios are level on 56.
Good for families. Kathmandu 20, Ocho Rios 60: Ocho Rios leads by 40 points.
Getting around. Kathmandu 25, Ocho Rios 24: Kathmandu leads by 1 points.
Shopping & style. Kathmandu 55, Ocho Rios 26: Kathmandu leads by 29 points.
Affordability. Kathmandu 97, Ocho Rios 42: Kathmandu leads by 55 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kathmandu 28, Ocho Rios 14: Kathmandu leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kathmandu 45, Ocho Rios 50: Ocho Rios leads by 5 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Kathmandu and Ocho Rios.

Your match

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

Kathmandu
Best match
48match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Ocho Rios
42match

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

Ocho Rios in July

33 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
85 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
KathmanduOcho Rios

Where the figures come from

Ocho Rios's temperatures are measured 62 km from the centre, at Kingston / Norman Manley.

Ocho Rios 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. Kathmandu: 1991-2020 normals, Kathmandu Airport (4.7 km from centre). Ocho Rios: 1991-2020 normals, Kingston / Norman Manley (61.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKathmanduOcho Rios
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 m59 m
Main airportTribhuvan International Airport (KTM)4 km from centre38 non-stop destinationsSangster International Airport (MBJ)86 km from centre48 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-10 days

By the numbers

MeasureKathmanduOcho Rios
City population845,76716,671
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 Ocho Rios 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.