VacationSelector
The Atomium, Brussels
BrusselsThe Atomium
Parliament Hill across the Ottawa River, Ottawa
OttawaParliament Hill across the Ottawa River

Photos: Brussels by Ettanghe, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Ottawa by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Brussels or Ottawa?

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 Brussels for

  • day trips
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

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

Choose Ottawa for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Ottawa’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. Brussels 18, Ottawa 35: Ottawa leads by 17 points.
Food & drink. Brussels 72, Ottawa 45: Brussels leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Brussels 74, Ottawa 62: Brussels leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Brussels 60, Ottawa 35: Brussels leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Brussels 45, Ottawa 68: Ottawa leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Brussels 89, Ottawa 55: Brussels leads by 34 points.
Good for families. Brussels 60, Ottawa 68: Ottawa leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Brussels 72, Ottawa 62: Brussels leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Brussels 62, Ottawa 40: Brussels leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Brussels and Ottawa are level on 40.
Live music & performing arts. Brussels 68, Ottawa 52: Brussels leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Brussels 33, Ottawa 55: Ottawa leads by 22 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Brussels and Ottawa.

Your match

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

Brussels
Best match
58match

Wins on day trips and food and drink with your weighting.

Ottawa
51match

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.

Brussels in July

23 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
80 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Ottawa in July

27 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
BrusselsOttawa

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Brussels: 1991-2020 normals, Uccle (5.2 km from centre). Ottawa: 1991-2020 normals, Ottawa CDA RCS (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBrusselsOttawa
Official languageFrench, German, DutchFrench, English
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation70 m70 m
Main airportBrussels Airport (BRU)11 km from centre191 non-stop destinationsOttawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW)12 km from centre46 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureBrusselsOttawa
City population195,5461,017,449
People per km²5,908366
Museums within 10 km10620
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km101

Where else could you go?

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