VacationSelector
The cathedral from the gardens, Malaga
MalagaThe cathedral from the gardens
The opera house on Place de la Comédie, Montpellier
MontpellierThe opera house on Place de la Comédie

Photos: Malaga by Holger Uwe Schmitt, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Montpellier by Peter, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Malaga 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 Malaga for

  • beaches
  • families
  • shopping

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

Choose Montpellier for

  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

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. Malaga 77, Montpellier 64: Malaga leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. Malaga 68, Montpellier 64: Malaga leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Malaga 65, Montpellier 60: Malaga leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Malaga 62, Montpellier 56: Malaga leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Malaga 73, Montpellier 72: Malaga leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Malaga 87, Montpellier 85: Malaga leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Malaga 70, Montpellier 62: Malaga leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Malaga 70, Montpellier 74: Montpellier leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Malaga 55, Montpellier 47: Malaga leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Malaga 55, Montpellier 50: Malaga leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Malaga 45, Montpellier 63: Montpellier leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Malaga and Montpellier are level on 42.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Malaga and Montpellier.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Malaga
64match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Montpellier
62match

Wins on live music and the arts and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Malaga in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
22 °Csea
14 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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
MalagaMontpellier

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Malaga: 1991-2020 normals, Malaga / Aeropuerto (8.2 km from centre). Montpellier: 1991-2020 normals, Montpellier (7.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMalagaMontpellier
Official languageSpanishFrench
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
Elevation18 m7 m
Main airportMálaga-Costa del Sol Airport (AGP)8 km from centre166 non-stop destinationsMontpellier-Méditerranée Airport (MPL)8 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureMalagaMontpellier
City population599,063310,240
People per km²1,5175,452
Museums within 10 km3214
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months2 months

Where else could you go?

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