VacationSelector
The Casino de Monte-Carlo, Monaco
MonacoThe Casino de Monte-Carlo
The church of San Francisco under a blue sky, Quito
QuitoThe church of San Francisco under a blue sky

Photos: Monaco by otterboris, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Quito by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Monaco or Quito?

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 Monaco for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • day trips

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

Choose Quito for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Quito’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. Monaco 68, Quito 5: Monaco leads by 63 points.
Food & drink. Monaco 57, Quito 54: Monaco leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Monaco 55, Quito 77: Quito leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Monaco 48, Quito 40: Monaco leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Monaco 70, Quito 86: Quito leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Monaco 84, Quito 55: Monaco leads by 29 points.
Good for families. Monaco 60, Quito 32: Monaco leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Monaco 78, Quito 45: Monaco leads by 33 points.
Shopping & style. Monaco 52, Quito 40: Monaco leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Monaco 3, Quito 78: Quito leads by 75 points.
Live music & performing arts. Monaco 63, Quito 38: Monaco leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Monaco 55, Quito 44: Monaco leads by 11 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Monaco and Quito.

Your match

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

Monaco
Best match
58match

Wins on beaches and getting around with your weighting.

Quito
50match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Monaco in July

28 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Quito in July

18 °Cdaytime high
5 °Cnight-time low
32 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
MonacoQuito

Where the figures come from

Quito's station stands 208 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Monaco: 1991-2020 normals, Nice (19.9 km from centre). Quito: 1961-1990 normals, Izobamba-Santa Catalina (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMonacoQuito
Official languageFrenchSpanish, Shuar, Northern Quichua
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCEF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112911
Elevation68 m2,850 m
Main airportNice-Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE)18 km from centre130 non-stop destinationsMariscal Sucre International Airport (UIO)20 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureMonacoQuito
City population38,8571,763,275
People per km²18,5034,735
Museums within 10 km1416
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Monaco or Quito 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). 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). Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. 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.