VacationSelector
The opera house on Place de la Comédie, Montpellier
MontpellierThe opera house on Place de la Comédie
Rabelo boats on the Douro and the Ribeira, Porto
PortoRabelo boats on the Douro and the Ribeira

Photos: Montpellier by Peter, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Porto by Jakub Hałun, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Montpellier or Porto?

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 Montpellier for

  • beaches
  • live music and the arts
  • families

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

Choose Porto for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Porto’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. Montpellier 64, Porto 40: Montpellier leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Montpellier 64, Porto 70: Porto leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Montpellier 60, Porto 68: Porto leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Montpellier 56, Porto 65: Porto leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Montpellier 72, Porto 64: Montpellier leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Montpellier 85, Porto 79: Montpellier leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Montpellier 62, Porto 52: Montpellier leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Montpellier 74, Porto 66: Montpellier leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Montpellier 47, Porto 52: Porto leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Montpellier 50, Porto 62: Porto leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Montpellier 63, Porto 52: Montpellier leads by 11 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Montpellier 42, Porto 34: Montpellier leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Montpellier and Porto.

Your match

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

Montpellier
Best match
62match

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

Porto
59match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Montpellier in July

30 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
17 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Porto in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
22 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
MontpellierPorto

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Montpellier: 1991-2020 normals, Montpellier (7.8 km from centre). Porto: 1991-2020 normals, Porto / Serra Do Pilar (2.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMontpellierPorto
Official languageFrenchPortuguese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation7 m104 m
Main airportMontpellier-Méditerranée Airport (MPL)8 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsFrancisco de Sá Carneiro Airport (OPO)12 km from centre134 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureMontpellierPorto
City population310,240273,476
People per km²5,4526,606
Museums within 10 km1442
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km23
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Montpellier or Porto 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.