VacationSelector
The Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign, Las Vegas
Las VegasThe Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign
Parliament Hill across the Ottawa River, Ottawa
OttawaParliament Hill across the Ottawa River

Photos: Las Vegas by Christian David, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Ottawa by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Las Vegas 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 Las Vegas for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

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

Choose Ottawa for

  • families
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

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. Las Vegas 10, Ottawa 35: Ottawa leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Las Vegas 68, Ottawa 45: Las Vegas leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Las Vegas 25, Ottawa 62: Ottawa leads by 37 points.
Nightlife. Las Vegas 88, Ottawa 35: Las Vegas leads by 53 points.
Nature & outdoors. Las Vegas and Ottawa are level on 68.
Day trips. Las Vegas 25, Ottawa 55: Ottawa leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Las Vegas 25, Ottawa 68: Ottawa leads by 43 points.
Getting around. Las Vegas 38, Ottawa 62: Ottawa leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Las Vegas 64, Ottawa 40: Las Vegas leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Las Vegas 35, Ottawa 40: Ottawa leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Las Vegas 78, Ottawa 52: Las Vegas leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Las Vegas 40, Ottawa 55: Ottawa leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Las Vegas and Ottawa.

Your match

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

Las Vegas
47match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Ottawa
Best match
51match

Wins on families and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Las Vegas in July

40 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
9 mmrain in the month
14 hdaylight a day

Ottawa in July

27 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
Las VegasOttawa

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Las Vegas: 1991-2020 normals, McCarran International Airport (8.5 km from centre). Ottawa: 1991-2020 normals, Ottawa CDA RCS (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLas VegasOttawa
Official language-French, English
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation610 m70 m
Main airportHarry Reid International Airport (LAS)4 km from centre159 non-stop destinationsOttawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW)12 km from centre46 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureLas VegasOttawa
City population641,9031,017,449
People per km²1,843366
Museums within 10 km2120
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 Las Vegas 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.