VacationSelector
The pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto
KyotoThe pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera
A bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay, Montego Bay
Montego BayA bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay

Photos: Kyoto by Bert Mulder, Pexels License; Montego Bay by Dre Dawkcide, Pexels License.

Kyoto 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 Kyoto for

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • shopping

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

Choose Montego Bay for

  • beaches
  • 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. Kyoto 15, Montego Bay 84: Montego Bay leads by 69 points.
Food & drink. Kyoto 85, Montego Bay 50: Kyoto leads by 35 points.
Culture & sights. Kyoto 96, Montego Bay 28: Kyoto leads by 68 points.
Nightlife. Kyoto 35, Montego Bay 42: Montego Bay leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kyoto 70, Montego Bay 65: Kyoto leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Kyoto 96, Montego Bay 50: Kyoto leads by 46 points.
Good for families. Kyoto 68, Montego Bay 48: Kyoto leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Kyoto 72, Montego Bay 20: Kyoto leads by 52 points.
Shopping & style. Kyoto 72, Montego Bay 25: Kyoto leads by 47 points.
Affordability. Kyoto 50, Montego Bay 38: Kyoto leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kyoto 60, Montego Bay 32: Kyoto leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kyoto 70, Montego Bay 45: Kyoto leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Kyoto and Montego Bay.

Your match

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

Kyoto
Best match
66match

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

Montego Bay
44match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Kyoto in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
225 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
KyotoMontego Bay

Where the figures come from

Kyoto's sunshine is measured 43 km from the centre, at Osaka.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Kyoto: 1971-2000 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Kyoto (3.2 km from centre). Montego Bay: 1991-2020 normals, Montego Bay / Sangster (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKyotoMontego 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
Elevation51 m19 m
Main airportKansai International Airport (KIX)81 km from centre62 non-stop destinationsSangster International Airport (MBJ)4 km from centre48 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureKyotoMontego Bay
City population1,463,723123,994
People per km²1,768-
Museums within 10 km770
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km40
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Kyoto or Montego Bay somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national 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. 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.