VacationSelector
A bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay, Montego Bay
Montego BayA bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay
The city from Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik
ReykjavikThe city from Hallgrímskirkja

Photos: Montego Bay by Dre Dawkcide, Pexels License; Reykjavik by Atlantic Ambience, Pexels License.

Montego Bay or Reykjavik?

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
  • prices
  • day trips

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

Choose Reykjavik for

  • wellness
  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Reykjavik’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, Reykjavik 12: Montego Bay leads by 72 points.
Food & drink. Montego Bay 50, Reykjavik 42: Montego Bay leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Montego Bay 28, Reykjavik 25: Montego Bay leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Montego Bay 42, Reykjavik 45: Reykjavik leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Montego Bay 65, Reykjavik 92: Reykjavik leads by 27 points.
Day trips. Montego Bay 50, Reykjavik 35: Montego Bay leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Montego Bay 48, Reykjavik 55: Reykjavik leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Montego Bay 20, Reykjavik 55: Reykjavik leads by 35 points.
Shopping & style. Montego Bay and Reykjavik are level on 25.
Affordability. Montego Bay 38, Reykjavik 6: Montego Bay leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Montego Bay 32, Reykjavik 45: Reykjavik leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Montego Bay 45, Reykjavik 88: Reykjavik leads by 43 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Montego Bay and Reykjavik.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Montego Bay
44match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Reykjavik
44match

Wins on wellness 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.

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

Reykjavik in July

15 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
50 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
11 °Csea
20 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
Montego BayReykjavik

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Montego Bay: 1991-2020 normals, Montego Bay / Sangster (3.7 km from centre). Reykjavik: 1991-2020 normals, Reykjavik (2.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMontego BayReykjavik
Official languageEnglish, Jamaican PatoisIcelandic
CurrencyJamaican Dollar (JMD)Iceland Krona (ISK)
SocketsAB116 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC
Emergency numberPolice 110/112/119/911, ambulance 110, fire 110112
Elevation19 m8 m
Main airportSangster International Airport (MBJ)4 km from centre48 non-stop destinationsKeflavik International Airport (KEF)37 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureMontego BayReykjavik
City population123,994138,772
People per km²-569
Museums within 10 km023
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Montego Bay or Reykjavik 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.