VacationSelector
A bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay, Montego Bay
Montego BayA bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay
The Iguazu Falls in the green jungle, Puerto Iguazu
Puerto IguazuThe Iguazu Falls in the green jungle

Photos: Montego Bay by Dre Dawkcide, Pexels License; Puerto Iguazu by Muhammed Ballan, Pexels License.

Montego Bay or Puerto Iguazu?

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
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Puerto Iguazu for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Puerto Iguazu’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, Puerto Iguazu 5: Montego Bay leads by 79 points.
Food & drink. Montego Bay 50, Puerto Iguazu 28: Montego Bay leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Montego Bay 28, Puerto Iguazu 9: Montego Bay leads by 19 points.
Nightlife. Montego Bay 42, Puerto Iguazu 14: Montego Bay leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Montego Bay 65, Puerto Iguazu 95: Puerto Iguazu leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Montego Bay 50, Puerto Iguazu 33: Montego Bay leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Montego Bay 48, Puerto Iguazu 55: Puerto Iguazu leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Montego Bay 20, Puerto Iguazu 54: Puerto Iguazu leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Montego Bay 25, Puerto Iguazu 17: Montego Bay leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Montego Bay 38, Puerto Iguazu 48: Puerto Iguazu leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Montego Bay 32, Puerto Iguazu 7: Montego Bay leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Montego Bay 45, Puerto Iguazu 34: Montego Bay leads by 11 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Montego Bay and Puerto Iguazu.

Your match

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

Montego Bay
Best match
44match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

Puerto Iguazu
33match

Wins on getting around and nature and the outdoors 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

Puerto Iguazu in July

22 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
103 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
No seasea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Montego BayPuerto Iguazu

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Montego Bay: 1991-2020 normals, Montego Bay / Sangster (3.7 km from centre). Puerto Iguazu: 1991-2020 normals, Iguazu Aerodrome (17.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMontego BayPuerto Iguazu
Official languageEnglish, Jamaican PatoisSpanish
CurrencyJamaican Dollar (JMD)Argentine Peso (ARS)
SocketsAB116 V, 50 HzCI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-3
Emergency numberPolice 110/112/119/911, ambulance 110, fire 110117 or 911
Elevation19 m162 m
Main airportSangster International Airport (MBJ)4 km from centre48 non-stop destinationsCataratas Del Iguazú International Airport (IGR)18 km from centre8 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureMontego BayPuerto Iguazu
City population123,99454,903
Museums within 10 km00
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 Puerto Iguazu 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. 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.