VacationSelector
The opera house on Place de la Comédie, Montpellier
MontpellierThe opera house on Place de la Comédie
Camelback Mountain above the city, Scottsdale
ScottsdaleCamelback Mountain above the city

Photos: Montpellier by Peter, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Scottsdale by Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Montpellier or Scottsdale?

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
  • getting around
  • day trips

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

Choose Scottsdale for

  • wellness
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Scottsdale’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, Scottsdale 8: Montpellier leads by 56 points.
Food & drink. Montpellier 64, Scottsdale 46: Montpellier leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Montpellier 60, Scottsdale 38: Montpellier leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Montpellier 56, Scottsdale 52: Montpellier leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Montpellier 72, Scottsdale 68: Montpellier leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Montpellier 85, Scottsdale 50: Montpellier leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Montpellier 62, Scottsdale 60: Montpellier leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Montpellier 74, Scottsdale 20: Montpellier leads by 54 points.
Shopping & style. Montpellier 47, Scottsdale 60: Scottsdale leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Montpellier 50, Scottsdale 32: Montpellier leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Montpellier 63, Scottsdale 40: Montpellier leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Montpellier 42, Scottsdale 72: Scottsdale leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Montpellier and Scottsdale.

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 getting around with your weighting.

Scottsdale
46match

Wins on wellness and shopping 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

Scottsdale in July

41 °Cdaytime high
29 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
MontpellierScottsdale

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Montpellier: 1991-2020 normals, Montpellier (7.8 km from centre). Scottsdale: 1991-2020 normals, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMontpellierScottsdale
Official languageFrench-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-7
Emergency number112911
Elevation7 m380 m
Main airportMontpellier-Méditerranée Airport (MPL)8 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)10 km from centre148 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureMontpellierScottsdale
City population310,240241,361
People per km²5,452-
Museums within 10 km1410
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Montpellier or Scottsdale 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.