VacationSelector
Sint Servaasbrug over the Maas, Maastricht
MaastrichtSint Servaasbrug over the Maas
The opera house on Place de la Comédie, Montpellier
MontpellierThe opera house on Place de la Comédie

Photos: Maastricht by Michielverbeek, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Montpellier by Peter, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Maastricht or Montpellier?

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 Maastricht for

  • shopping
  • wellness

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

Choose Montpellier for

  • beaches
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Montpellier’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. Maastricht 8, Montpellier 64: Montpellier leads by 56 points.
Food & drink. Maastricht 58, Montpellier 64: Montpellier leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Maastricht and Montpellier are level on 60.
Nightlife. Maastricht 42, Montpellier 56: Montpellier leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Maastricht 58, Montpellier 72: Montpellier leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Maastricht 77, Montpellier 85: Montpellier leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Maastricht 55, Montpellier 62: Montpellier leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Maastricht and Montpellier are level on 74.
Shopping & style. Maastricht 60, Montpellier 47: Maastricht leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Maastricht 38, Montpellier 50: Montpellier leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Maastricht 40, Montpellier 63: Montpellier leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Maastricht 52, Montpellier 42: Maastricht leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Maastricht and Montpellier.

Your match

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

Maastricht
52match

Wins on shopping and wellness with your weighting.

Montpellier
Best match
62match

Wins on beaches and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Maastricht in July

24 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Montpellier in July

30 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
17 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
MaastrichtMontpellier

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Maastricht: 1991-2020 normals, Maastricht Airport Zuid Limburg (10 km from centre). Montpellier: 1991-2020 normals, Montpellier (7.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMaastrichtMontpellier
Official languageDutchFrench
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation49 m7 m
Main airportMaastricht Aachen Airport (MST)9 km from centre5 non-stop destinationsMontpellier-Méditerranée Airport (MPL)8 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureMaastrichtMontpellier
City population120,227310,240
People per km²2,0005,452
Museums within 10 km2114
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km52
Swim season, months above 21 °C-2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Maastricht or Montpellier 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). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.