VacationSelector
The Anshun Bridge over the Jin River, Chengdu
ChengduThe Anshun Bridge over the Jin River
Parliament Hill across the Ottawa River, Ottawa
OttawaParliament Hill across the Ottawa River

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

Chengdu 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 Chengdu for

  • food and drink
  • prices
  • nightlife

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

Choose Ottawa for

  • beaches
  • families
  • culture and sights

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. Chengdu 5, Ottawa 35: Ottawa leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Chengdu 86, Ottawa 45: Chengdu leads by 41 points.
Culture & sights. Chengdu 60, Ottawa 62: Ottawa leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Chengdu 68, Ottawa 35: Chengdu leads by 33 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chengdu and Ottawa are level on 68.
Day trips. Chengdu 80, Ottawa 55: Chengdu leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Chengdu 65, Ottawa 68: Ottawa leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Chengdu 74, Ottawa 62: Chengdu leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Chengdu 64, Ottawa 40: Chengdu leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Chengdu 80, Ottawa 40: Chengdu leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chengdu 50, Ottawa 52: Ottawa leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chengdu 58, Ottawa 55: Chengdu leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chengdu and Ottawa.

Your match

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

Chengdu
Best match
63match

Wins on food and drink and prices with your weighting.

Ottawa
51match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Chengdu in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
177 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
14 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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ChengduOttawa

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chengdu: 1991-2020 normals, Chengdu (4.5 km from centre). Ottawa: 1991-2020 normals, Ottawa CDA RCS (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChengduOttawa
Official languagePutonghuaFrench, English
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119911
Elevation500 m70 m
Main airportChengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU)16 km from centre77 non-stop destinationsOttawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW)12 km from centre46 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureChengduOttawa
City population20,937,7571,017,449
People per km²1,456366
Museums within 10 km1020
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chengdu 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). 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.