VacationSelector
The opera house on Place de la Comédie, Montpellier
MontpellierThe opera house on Place de la Comédie
The Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, Wilmington
WilmingtonThe Riverwalk and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge

Photos: Montpellier by Peter, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Wilmington by Unexpected Snacks, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Montpellier or Wilmington?

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

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Wilmington for

  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Wilmington’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, Wilmington 73: Wilmington leads by 9 points.
Food & drink. Montpellier 64, Wilmington 48: Montpellier leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Montpellier 60, Wilmington 40: Montpellier leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Montpellier 56, Wilmington 40: Montpellier leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Montpellier 72, Wilmington 58: Montpellier leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Montpellier 85, Wilmington 45: Montpellier leads by 40 points.
Good for families. Montpellier and Wilmington are level on 62.
Getting around. Montpellier 74, Wilmington 28: Montpellier leads by 46 points.
Shopping & style. Montpellier 47, Wilmington 33: Montpellier leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Montpellier 50, Wilmington 42: Montpellier leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Montpellier 63, Wilmington 40: Montpellier leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Montpellier 42, Wilmington 33: Montpellier leads by 9 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Montpellier and Wilmington.

Your match

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

Montpellier
Best match
62match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

Wilmington
45match

Wins on beaches 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

Wilmington in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
174 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
MontpellierWilmington

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Montpellier: 1991-2020 normals, Montpellier (7.8 km from centre). Wilmington: 1991-2020 normals, Wilmington / The Palms Mobile Home Park (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMontpellierWilmington
Official languageFrench-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation7 m9 m
Main airportMontpellier-Méditerranée Airport (MPL)8 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsWilmington International Airport (ILM)5 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureMontpellierWilmington
City population310,240115,451
People per km²5,452839
Museums within 10 km142
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Montpellier or Wilmington 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.