VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
Parliament Hill across the Ottawa River, Ottawa
OttawaParliament Hill across the Ottawa River

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Ottawa by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Cologne 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 Cologne for

  • nightlife
  • day trips
  • shopping

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

Choose Ottawa for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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. Cologne 14, Ottawa 35: Ottawa leads by 21 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Ottawa 45: Cologne leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Ottawa 62: Cologne leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Ottawa 35: Cologne leads by 31 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Ottawa 68: Ottawa leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Ottawa 55: Cologne leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Ottawa 68: Cologne leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Ottawa 62: Cologne leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Ottawa 40: Cologne leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Ottawa 40: Cologne leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne 68, Ottawa 52: Cologne leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Ottawa 55: Ottawa leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cologne and Ottawa.

Your match

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

Cologne
Best match
58match

Wins on nightlife and day trips with your weighting.

Ottawa
51match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Cologne in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
81 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
CologneOttawa

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Ottawa: 1991-2020 normals, Ottawa CDA RCS (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCologneOttawa
Official languageGermanFrench, English
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation59 m70 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsOttawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW)12 km from centre46 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureCologneOttawa
City population1,025,5231,017,449
People per km²2,532366
Museums within 10 km4020
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31

Where else could you go?

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