VacationSelector
The Royal Palace, Madrid
MadridThe Royal Palace
A bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay, Montego Bay
Montego BayA bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay

Photos: Madrid by Mert Ocak, Pexels License; Montego Bay by Dre Dawkcide, Pexels License.

Madrid 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 Madrid for

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

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

Choose Montego Bay for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Madrid 5, Montego Bay 84: Montego Bay leads by 79 points.
Food & drink. Madrid 80, Montego Bay 50: Madrid leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Madrid 86, Montego Bay 28: Madrid leads by 58 points.
Nightlife. Madrid 85, Montego Bay 42: Madrid leads by 43 points.
Nature & outdoors. Madrid 60, Montego Bay 65: Montego Bay leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Madrid 89, Montego Bay 50: Madrid leads by 39 points.
Good for families. Madrid 68, Montego Bay 48: Madrid leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Madrid 84, Montego Bay 20: Madrid leads by 64 points.
Shopping & style. Madrid 75, Montego Bay 25: Madrid leads by 50 points.
Affordability. Madrid 50, Montego Bay 38: Madrid leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Madrid 77, Montego Bay 32: Madrid leads by 45 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Madrid 36, Montego Bay 45: Montego Bay leads by 9 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Madrid and Montego Bay.

Your match

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

Madrid
Best match
66match

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

Montego Bay
44match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Madrid in July

33 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
9 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 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

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
MadridMontego Bay

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Madrid: 1991-2020 normals, Madrid (1.7 km from centre). Montego Bay: 1991-2020 normals, Montego Bay / Sangster (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMadridMontego Bay
Official languageSpanishEnglish, Jamaican Patois
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Jamaican Dollar (JMD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB116 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112Police 110/112/119/911, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation663 m19 m
Main airportAdolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)14 km from centre239 non-stop destinationsSangster International Airport (MBJ)4 km from centre48 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureMadridMontego Bay
City population3,506,730123,994
People per km²5,801-
Museums within 10 km880
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km40
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 Madrid 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). 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. 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. 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.