VacationSelector
The Teatro Amazonas, Manaus
ManausThe Teatro Amazonas
A bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay, Montego Bay
Montego BayA bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay

Photos: Manaus by Jardelsliumba, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Montego Bay by Dre Dawkcide, Pexels License.

Manaus 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 Manaus for

  • prices
  • live music and the arts
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Montego Bay for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • wellness

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. Manaus 38, Montego Bay 84: Montego Bay leads by 46 points.
Food & drink. Manaus 56, Montego Bay 50: Manaus leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Manaus 46, Montego Bay 28: Manaus leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Manaus and Montego Bay are level on 42.
Nature & outdoors. Manaus 86, Montego Bay 65: Manaus leads by 21 points.
Day trips. Manaus 12, Montego Bay 50: Montego Bay leads by 38 points.
Good for families. Manaus 35, Montego Bay 48: Montego Bay leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Manaus 27, Montego Bay 20: Manaus leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Manaus 36, Montego Bay 25: Manaus leads by 11 points.
Affordability. Manaus 63, Montego Bay 38: Manaus leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Manaus 54, Montego Bay 32: Manaus leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Manaus 20, Montego Bay 45: Montego Bay leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Manaus and Montego Bay.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Manaus
43match

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

Montego Bay
44match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Manaus in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
74 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
12 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

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ManausMontego Bay

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

Before you go

MeasureManausMontego Bay
Official languagePortugueseEnglish, Jamaican Patois
CurrencyBrazilian Real (BRL)Jamaican Dollar (JMD)
SocketsCN60 HzAB116 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-4UTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 190, ambulance 192, fire 193Police 110/112/119/911, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation92 m19 m
Main airportEduardo Gomes International Airport (MAO)9 km from centre21 non-stop destinationsSangster International Airport (MBJ)4 km from centre48 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureManausMontego Bay
City population2,303,732123,994
People per km²202-
Museums within 10 km130
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 Manaus 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). 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. 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.

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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.