VacationSelector
Botero sculptures on Plaza Botero, Medellin
MedellinBotero sculptures on Plaza Botero
Château Frontenac from Dufferin Terrace, Quebec City
Quebec CityChâteau Frontenac from Dufferin Terrace

Photos: Medellin by Steffen Schmitz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Quebec City by Jeangagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Medellin or Quebec City?

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 Medellin for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • getting around

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

Choose Quebec City for

  • culture and sights
  • wellness
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Quebec City’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. Medellin 5, Quebec City 18: Quebec City leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. Medellin 58, Quebec City 57: Medellin leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Medellin 42, Quebec City 70: Quebec City leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Medellin 76, Quebec City 42: Medellin leads by 34 points.
Nature & outdoors. Medellin 66, Quebec City 79: Quebec City leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Medellin and Quebec City are level on 58.
Good for families. Medellin 50, Quebec City 64: Quebec City leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Medellin 55, Quebec City 50: Medellin leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Medellin and Quebec City are level on 45.
Affordability. Medellin 80, Quebec City 45: Medellin leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Medellin 42, Quebec City 52: Quebec City leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Medellin 30, Quebec City 55: Quebec City leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Medellin and Quebec City.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Medellin
51match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Quebec City
53match

Wins on culture and sights and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Medellin in July

29 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
133 mmrain in the month
12 hdaylight a day

Quebec City in July

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

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
MedellinQuebec City

Where the figures come from

Medellin 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. Medellin: 1958-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Medellin / Olaya Herrera (5.2 km from centre). Quebec City: 1991-2020 normals, Beauport (3.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMedellinQuebec City
Official languageSpanishFrench, English
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number123911
Elevation1,405 m98 m
Main airportJose Maria Córdova International Airport (MDE)19 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsQuebec Jean Lesage International Airport (YQB)13 km from centre34 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureMedellinQuebec City
City population2,529,403574,482
People per km²6,6441,184
Museums within 10 km1416
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 Medellin or Quebec City 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). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.