VacationSelector
Botero sculptures on Plaza Botero, Medellin
MedellinBotero sculptures on Plaza Botero
A chairlift and the runs on Whistler Mountain, Whistler
WhistlerA chairlift and the runs on Whistler Mountain

Photos: Medellin by Steffen Schmitz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Whistler by Ruth Hartnup, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Medellin or Whistler?

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
  • day trips

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

Choose Whistler for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Whistler’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, Whistler 30: Whistler leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Medellin 58, Whistler 40: Medellin leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Medellin 42, Whistler 20: Medellin leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Medellin 76, Whistler 42: Medellin leads by 34 points.
Nature & outdoors. Medellin 66, Whistler 97: Whistler leads by 31 points.
Day trips. Medellin 58, Whistler 30: Medellin leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Medellin 50, Whistler 68: Whistler leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Medellin 55, Whistler 68: Whistler leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. Medellin 45, Whistler 30: Medellin leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Medellin 80, Whistler 12: Medellin leads by 68 points.
Live music & performing arts. Medellin 42, Whistler 15: Medellin leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Medellin 30, Whistler 60: Whistler leads by 30 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Medellin
Best match
51match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Whistler
43match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Whistler in July

25 °Cdaytime high
10 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
MedellinWhistler

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.

Whistler 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). Whistler: 1991-2020 normals, Whistler - Nesters (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMedellinWhistler
Official languageSpanishFrench, English
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number123911
Elevation1,405 m670 m
Main airportJose Maria Córdova International Airport (MDE)19 km from centre35 non-stop destinationsVancouver International Airport (YVR)104 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureMedellinWhistler
City population2,529,40313,982
People per km²6,64458
Museums within 10 km141
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Medellin or Whistler 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.