VacationSelector
The Jet d'Eau and a lake boat, Geneva
GenevaThe Jet d'Eau and a lake boat
Parliament Hill across the Ottawa River, Ottawa
OttawaParliament Hill across the Ottawa River

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

Geneva 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 Geneva for

  • shopping
  • day trips
  • getting around

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

Choose Ottawa for

  • prices
  • 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. Geneva 45, Ottawa 35: Geneva leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Geneva 55, Ottawa 45: Geneva leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Geneva 58, Ottawa 62: Ottawa leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Geneva 38, Ottawa 35: Geneva leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Geneva 82, Ottawa 68: Geneva leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Geneva 80, Ottawa 55: Geneva leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Geneva 57, Ottawa 68: Ottawa leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Geneva 86, Ottawa 62: Geneva leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Geneva 68, Ottawa 40: Geneva leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Geneva 5, Ottawa 40: Ottawa leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Geneva 60, Ottawa 52: Geneva leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Geneva and Ottawa are level on 55.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Geneva and Ottawa.

Your match

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

Geneva
Best match
57match

Wins on shopping and day trips with your weighting.

Ottawa
51match

Wins on prices 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.

Geneva in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
77 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
15 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
GenevaOttawa

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Geneva: 1991-2020 normals, Geneve-Cointrin (5.7 km from centre). Ottawa: 1991-2020 normals, Ottawa CDA RCS (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGenevaOttawa
Official languageFrench, German, Italian, RomanshFrench, English
CurrencySwiss Franc (CHF)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsCJ230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation403 m70 m
Main airportGeneva International Airport (GVA)5 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsOttawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW)12 km from centre46 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureGenevaOttawa
City population211,1521,017,449
People per km²13,280366
Museums within 10 km3420
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Geneva or Ottawa 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). 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.