VacationSelector
The Massachusetts State House, Boston
BostonThe Massachusetts State House
Gastown, Vancouver
VancouverGastown

Photos: Boston by Ajay Suresh, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Vancouver by Xicotencatl, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Boston or Vancouver?

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 Boston for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Vancouver for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Vancouver’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. Boston 35, Vancouver 42: Vancouver leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Boston 64, Vancouver 72: Vancouver leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Boston 72, Vancouver 42: Boston leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Boston 47, Vancouver 42: Boston leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Boston 60, Vancouver 97: Vancouver leads by 37 points.
Day trips. Boston 72, Vancouver 45: Boston leads by 27 points.
Good for families. Boston and Vancouver are level on 72.
Getting around. Boston 70, Vancouver 73: Vancouver leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Boston and Vancouver are level on 55.
Affordability. Boston 18, Vancouver 27: Vancouver leads by 9 points.
Live music & performing arts. Boston 72, Vancouver 52: Boston leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Boston 30, Vancouver 50: Vancouver leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Boston and Vancouver.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Boston
56match

Wins on culture and sights and day trips with your weighting.

Vancouver
56match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Boston in July

28 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Vancouver in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
42 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
BostonVancouver

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Boston: 1991-2020 normals, Boston Logan International (3.5 km from centre). Vancouver: 1991-2020 normals, Vancouver Harbour CS (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBostonVancouver
Official language-French, English
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation43 m2 m
Main airportBoston Logan International Airport (BOS)4 km from centre144 non-stop destinationsVancouver International Airport (YVR)9 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureBostonVancouver
City population675,647662,248
People per km²2,9105,759
Museums within 10 km5126
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Boston or Vancouver 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). 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.