VacationSelector
Skiers and chairlifts on the slopes in sunshine, Deer Valley
Deer ValleySkiers and chairlifts on the slopes in sunshine
A chairlift and the runs on Whistler Mountain, Whistler
WhistlerA chairlift and the runs on Whistler Mountain

Photos: Deer Valley by Don Ramey Logan, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Whistler by Ruth Hartnup, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Deer Valley or Whistler?

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 Deer Valley for

  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

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

Choose Whistler for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Whistler’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. Deer Valley 10, Whistler 30: Whistler leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Deer Valley 38, Whistler 40: Whistler leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Deer Valley 15, Whistler 20: Whistler leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Deer Valley 25, Whistler 42: Whistler leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Deer Valley 90, Whistler 97: Whistler leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Deer Valley 38, Whistler 30: Deer Valley leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Deer Valley 60, Whistler 68: Whistler leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Deer Valley 50, Whistler 68: Whistler leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Deer Valley 25, Whistler 30: Whistler leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Deer Valley 4, Whistler 12: Whistler leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Deer Valley 30, Whistler 15: Deer Valley leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Deer Valley 52, Whistler 60: Whistler leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Deer Valley and Whistler.

Your match

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

Deer Valley
36match

Wins on live music and the arts and day trips with your weighting.

Whistler
Best match
43match

Wins on beaches and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Deer Valley in July

28 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
15 hdaylight a day

Whistler in July

25 °Cdaytime high
10 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
Deer ValleyWhistler

Where the figures come from

Deer Valley's temperatures are measured 82 km from the centre, at Evanston.

Deer Valley's station stands 297 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Deer Valley has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Whistler has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Deer Valley: 1999-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Evanston (81.9 km from centre). Whistler: 1991-2020 normals, Whistler - Nesters (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDeer ValleyWhistler
Official language-French, English
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-7, UTC-6 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation2,474 m670 m
Main airportSalt Lake City International Airport (SLC)45 km from centre108 non-stop destinationsVancouver International Airport (YVR)104 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureDeer ValleyWhistler
City population-13,982
People per km²-58
Museums within 10 km01
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Deer Valley or Whistler somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.