Montego Bay vs Puerto Vallarta

Beachfront dining area at JOIA Rose Hall by Iberostar with wooden tables, white chairs, cream umbrellas, and a tall palm tree, with the resort building and bar in the background.

Resort pool with white umbrellas and lounge chairs, palm trees, and a multi-story hotel building backed by green mountains.

Puerto Vallarta13 resorts · ★ 4.3 average

Montego Bay and Puerto Vallarta, side by side: live travel advisories, our resort catalog's real guest data, and each destination's honest weather picture. Everything you need to break the tie.

Montego Bay guide · Puerto Vallarta guide · How we score

By the numbers

Montego Bay compared with Puerto Vallarta
Montego Bay	Measure	Puerto Vallarta
Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution	U.S. travel advisory	Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution
7	Resorts in our catalog	13 (better)
★ 4.5 (better)	Average guest rating	★ 4.3
$120–$210/night pp	Nightly rates	$71–$201/night pp (better)
4 of 7	Adults-only resorts	2 of 13
In the hurricane belt	Hurricane exposure	Low hurricane risk (better)
May–June and September–November, mostly short afternoon bursts	Rainy season	June–October: dramatic afternoon storms, lush green hills
December–April	Sweet spot	November–May; whales in the bay December–March
Sangster (MBJ), most resorts 10–30 min	Airport	Puerto Vallarta (PVR), most resorts 10–40 min
Short transfers, golf, first Jamaica trips	Best for	Calm swimmable water, town culture with your resort, LGBTQ+-friendly scene
Rose Hall Great House; Doctor's Cave Beach	Signature	Banderas Bay sunsets; whales December–March

Advisory levels sync from travel.state.gov; catalog figures reflect the resorts we've researched, not every hotel in the country. A marked row is one we are willing to call; rows without a mark are a matter of taste, or we have no comparable figure for both sides.

On the map

Montego Bay

Puerto Vallarta

Weather, month by month

Month-by-month average high temperature and rainfall for Montego Bay and Puerto Vallarta
Measure	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Montego Bay · high °F	82	82	83	84	86	88	88	88	88	87	85	83
Puerto Vallarta · high °F	82	82	82	84	87	90	92	92	90	89	86	83
Montego Bay · rain (in)	0.9	0.6	0.6	1.1	4.0	3.5	2.4	3.5	5.1	7.1	3.0	1.5
Puerto Vallarta · rain (in)	0.4	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.5	7.0	11.0	10.5	13.5	4.0	0.8	0.5

Approximate climate normals for Montego Bay / Rose Hall and Banderas Bay: planning guidance, not a forecast. A deeper tint is a higher number, read within its own row.