VacationSelector
A bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay, Montego Bay
Montego BayA bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill

Photos: Montego Bay by Dre Dawkcide, Pexels License; Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License.

Montego Bay or Philadelphia?

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 Montego Bay for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Philadelphia for

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Philadelphia’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. Montego Bay 84, Philadelphia 36: Montego Bay leads by 48 points.
Food & drink. Montego Bay 50, Philadelphia 62: Philadelphia leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Montego Bay 28, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 44 points.
Nightlife. Montego Bay 42, Philadelphia 55: Philadelphia leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Montego Bay 65, Philadelphia 52: Montego Bay leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Montego Bay 50, Philadelphia 80: Philadelphia leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Montego Bay 48, Philadelphia 68: Philadelphia leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Montego Bay 20, Philadelphia 66: Philadelphia leads by 46 points.
Shopping & style. Montego Bay 25, Philadelphia 57: Philadelphia leads by 32 points.
Affordability. Montego Bay 38, Philadelphia 40: Philadelphia leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Montego Bay 32, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 40 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Montego Bay 45, Philadelphia 26: Montego Bay leads by 19 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Montego Bay and Philadelphia.

Your match

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

Montego Bay
44match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

Philadelphia
Best match
57match

Wins on getting around 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.

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

Philadelphia in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
Montego BayPhiladelphia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Montego Bay: 1991-2020 normals, Montego Bay / Sangster (3.7 km from centre). Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMontego BayPhiladelphia
Official languageEnglish, Jamaican Patois-
CurrencyJamaican Dollar (JMD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB116 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110/112/119/911, ambulance 110, fire 110911
Elevation19 m12 m
Main airportSangster International Airport (MBJ)4 km from centre48 non-stop destinationsPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureMontego BayPhiladelphia
City population123,9941,603,797
People per km²-4,339
Museums within 10 km054
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Montego Bay or Philadelphia 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). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.