VacationSelector
Big Ben and Westminster Bridge, London
LondonBig Ben and Westminster Bridge
The British Columbia Parliament Buildings, Victoria
VictoriaThe British Columbia Parliament Buildings

Photos: London by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Victoria by Guilice, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

London or Victoria?

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 London for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

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

Choose Victoria for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Victoria’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. London 25, Victoria 28: Victoria leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. London 84, Victoria 50: London leads by 34 points.
Culture & sights. London 94, Victoria 42: London leads by 52 points.
Nightlife. London 88, Victoria 30: London leads by 58 points.
Nature & outdoors. London 57, Victoria 77: Victoria leads by 20 points.
Day trips. London 90, Victoria 54: London leads by 36 points.
Good for families. London 82, Victoria 62: London leads by 20 points.
Getting around. London 85, Victoria 60: London leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. London 95, Victoria 40: London leads by 55 points.
Affordability. London 15, Victoria 34: Victoria leads by 19 points.
Live music & performing arts. London 98, Victoria 40: London leads by 58 points.
Wellness & relaxation. London 40, Victoria 48: Victoria leads by 8 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: London and Victoria.

Your match

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

London
Best match
71match

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

Victoria
47match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

London in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Victoria in July

21 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
11 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
LondonVictoria

Where the figures come from

Victoria's sunshine is measured 87 km from the centre, at Vancouver International Airport.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. London: 1992-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, London Weather Centre (1.3 km from centre). Victoria: 1991-2020 normals, Victoria Gonzales CS (3.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLondonVictoria
Official languageEnglishFrench, English
CurrencyPound Sterling (GBP)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112 or 999911
Elevation4 m23 m
Main airportLondon Heathrow Airport (LHR)23 km from centre224 non-stop destinationsVictoria International Airport (YYJ)25 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year8 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureLondonVictoria
City population8,799,72891,867
People per km²5,5984,711
Museums within 10 km2166
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km40
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow London or Victoria 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.