VacationSelector
The Calgary Tower above Olympic Plaza, Calgary
CalgaryThe Calgary Tower above Olympic Plaza
Big Ben and Westminster Bridge, London
LondonBig Ben and Westminster Bridge

Photos: Calgary by abdallahh, CC BY 2.0, cropped; London by AXP Photography, Pexels License.

Calgary or London?

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 Calgary for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • wellness

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

Choose London for

  • culture and sights
  • shopping
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on London’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. Calgary 8, London 25: London leads by 17 points.
Food & drink. Calgary 45, London 84: London leads by 39 points.
Culture & sights. Calgary 35, London 94: London leads by 59 points.
Nightlife. Calgary 40, London 88: London leads by 48 points.
Nature & outdoors. Calgary 88, London 57: Calgary leads by 31 points.
Day trips. Calgary 55, London 90: London leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Calgary 68, London 82: London leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Calgary 42, London 85: London leads by 43 points.
Shopping & style. Calgary 42, London 95: London leads by 53 points.
Affordability. Calgary 42, London 15: Calgary leads by 27 points.
Live music & performing arts. Calgary 46, London 98: London leads by 52 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Calgary 42, London 40: Calgary leads by 2 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Calgary and London.

Your match

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

Calgary
46match

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

London
Best match
71match

Wins on culture and sights and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Calgary in July

25 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
44 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

London in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
CalgaryLondon

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Calgary: 1991-2020 normals, Calgary Int'l CS (8.2 km from centre). London: 1992-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, London Weather Centre (1.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCalgaryLondon
Official languageFrench, EnglishEnglish
CurrencyCanadian Dollar (CAD)Pound Sterling (GBP)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-7, UTC-6 in summerUTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number911112 or 999
Elevation1,045 m4 m
Main airportCalgary International Airport (YYC)9 km from centre103 non-stop destinationsLondon Heathrow Airport (LHR)23 km from centre224 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days8 days

By the numbers

MeasureCalgaryLondon
City population1,306,7848,799,728
People per km²1,5835,598
Museums within 10 km13216
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km04

Where else could you go?

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