VacationSelector
A galleon on the Motława below the old crane, Gdansk
GdanskA galleon on the Motława below the old crane
Parliament Hill across the Ottawa River, Ottawa
OttawaParliament Hill across the Ottawa River

Photos: Gdansk by Nikater, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Ottawa by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Gdansk 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 Gdansk for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • getting around

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

Choose Ottawa for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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. Gdansk 40, Ottawa 35: Gdansk leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Gdansk 50, Ottawa 45: Gdansk leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Gdansk 68, Ottawa 62: Gdansk leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Gdansk 52, Ottawa 35: Gdansk leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Gdansk 58, Ottawa 68: Ottawa leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Gdansk 62, Ottawa 55: Gdansk leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Gdansk 62, Ottawa 68: Ottawa leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Gdansk 72, Ottawa 62: Gdansk leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Gdansk 42, Ottawa 40: Gdansk leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Gdansk 68, Ottawa 40: Gdansk leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Gdansk and Ottawa are level on 52.
Wellness & relaxation. Gdansk 36, Ottawa 55: Ottawa leads by 19 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Gdansk and Ottawa.

Your match

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

Gdansk
Best match
55match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Ottawa
51match

Wins on wellness 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.

Gdansk in July

22 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
85 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Ottawa in July

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

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
GdanskOttawa

Where the figures come from

Gdansk 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.

Gdansk's sunshine is measured 55 km from the centre, at Elblag.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Gdansk: 1991-2020 normals, Gdansk-Rebiechowo (12.7 km from centre). Ottawa: 1991-2020 normals, Ottawa CDA RCS (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGdanskOttawa
Official languagePolishFrench, English
CurrencyZloty (PLN)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsCE50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation11 m70 m
Main airportGdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport (GDN)13 km from centre72 non-stop destinationsOttawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW)12 km from centre46 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureGdanskOttawa
City population487,8341,017,449
People per km²714366
Museums within 10 km3420
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Gdansk 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.