Photos: Ocho Rios by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.
Ocho Rios or Santa Monica?
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 Ocho Rios for
- prices
- beaches
- wellness
What lies behind each score is written up on Ocho Rios’s own page.
Choose Santa Monica for
- shopping
- getting around
- live music and the arts
What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Monica’s own page.
Scoreboard
Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.
What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Ocho Rios and Santa Monica.
Your match
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.
Wins on prices and beaches with your weighting.
Wins on shopping 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.
Ocho Rios in July
Santa Monica in July
Daytime high, °C
Rainfall in the month, mm
Where the figures come from
Ocho Rios's temperatures are measured 62 km from the centre, at Kingston / Norman Manley.
Ocho Rios has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.
Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Ocho Rios: 1991-2020 normals, Kingston / Norman Manley (61.9 km from centre). Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre).
Before you go
| Measure | Ocho Rios | Santa Monica |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | English, Jamaican Patois | - |
| Currency | Jamaican Dollar (JMD) | US Dollar (USD) |
| Sockets | AB116 V, 50 Hz | AB120 V, 60 Hz |
| Driving side | Left | Right |
| Time zone | UTC-5 | UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer |
| Emergency number | Police 110/112/119/911, ambulance 110, fire 110 | 911 |
| Elevation | 59 m | 32 m |
| Main airport | Sangster International Airport (MBJ)86 km from centre48 non-stop destinations | Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 10 days | 13 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Ocho Rios | Santa Monica |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 16,671 | 93,076 |
| People per km² | - | 4,270 |
| Museums within 10 km | 0 | 19 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 0 | 1 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | 12 months | None |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Ocho Rios or Santa Monica somewhere new.