VacationSelector
The Texas State Capitol under a blue sky, Austin
AustinThe Texas State Capitol under a blue sky
A chairlift and the runs on Whistler Mountain, Whistler
WhistlerA chairlift and the runs on Whistler Mountain

Photos: Austin by LoneStarMike, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Whistler by Ruth Hartnup, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Austin or Whistler?

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 Austin for

  • live music and the arts
  • day trips
  • food and drink

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

Choose Whistler for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Whistler’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. Austin and Whistler are level on 30.
Food & drink. Austin 66, Whistler 40: Austin leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Austin 40, Whistler 20: Austin leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Austin 65, Whistler 42: Austin leads by 23 points.
Nature & outdoors. Austin 57, Whistler 97: Whistler leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Austin 58, Whistler 30: Austin leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Austin 55, Whistler 68: Whistler leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Austin 30, Whistler 68: Whistler leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Austin 45, Whistler 30: Austin leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Austin 33, Whistler 12: Austin leads by 21 points.
Live music & performing arts. Austin 77, Whistler 15: Austin leads by 62 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Austin 40, Whistler 60: Whistler leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Austin and Whistler.

Your match

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

Austin
Best match
50match

Wins on live music and the arts and day trips with your weighting.

Whistler
43match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Austin in July

36 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
49 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Whistler in July

25 °Cdaytime high
10 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
AustinWhistler

Where the figures come from

Whistler 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. Austin: 1991-2020 normals, Camp Mabry/Austin City Asos (3.7 km from centre). Whistler: 1991-2020 normals, Whistler - Nesters (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAustinWhistler
Official language-French, English
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation149 m670 m
Main airportAustin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)13 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsVancouver International Airport (YVR)104 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAustinWhistler
City population961,85513,982
People per km²1,21758
Museums within 10 km211
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Austin or Whistler 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.

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.