VacationSelector
Place d'Armes and Notre-Dame Basilica, Montreal
MontrealPlace d'Armes and Notre-Dame Basilica
The skyline over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia
PhiladelphiaThe skyline over the Schuylkill

Photos: Montreal by Arild Vågen, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Philadelphia by Trev W. Adams, Pexels License.

Montreal or Philadelphia?

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 Montreal for

  • wellness
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

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

Choose Philadelphia for

  • day trips
  • culture and sights
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Philadelphia’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. Montreal 25, Philadelphia 36: Philadelphia leads by 11 points.
Food & drink. Montreal 78, Philadelphia 62: Montreal leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Montreal 60, Philadelphia 72: Philadelphia leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Montreal 75, Philadelphia 55: Montreal leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Montreal 66, Philadelphia 52: Montreal leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Montreal 55, Philadelphia 80: Philadelphia leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Montreal and Philadelphia are level on 68.
Getting around. Montreal 72, Philadelphia 66: Montreal leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Montreal 60, Philadelphia 57: Montreal leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Montreal 45, Philadelphia 40: Montreal leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Montreal 76, Philadelphia 72: Montreal leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Montreal 57, Philadelphia 26: Montreal leads by 31 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Montreal
Best match
61match

Wins on wellness and nightlife with your weighting.

Philadelphia
57match

Wins on day trips 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.

Montreal in July

27 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
98 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Philadelphia in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
MontrealPhiladelphia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Montreal: 1991-2020 normals, Montreal McTavish (3.2 km from centre). Philadelphia: 1991-2020 normals, Philadelphia International Airport (11.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMontrealPhiladelphia
Official languageFrench, English-
CurrencyCanadian Dollar (CAD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation31 m12 m
Main airportMontreal / Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL)16 km from centre166 non-stop destinationsPhiladelphia International Airport (PHL)11 km from centre129 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureMontrealPhiladelphia
City population1,895,2111,603,797
People per km²3,8064,339
Museums within 10 km3754
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 Montreal or Philadelphia 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.