VacationSelector
The steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi, New Orleans
New OrleansThe steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi
Parliament Hill across the Ottawa River, Ottawa
OttawaParliament Hill across the Ottawa River

Photos: New Orleans by Bernard Spragg, CC0; Ottawa by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

New Orleans 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 New Orleans for

  • nightlife
  • food and drink
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Ottawa for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

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. New Orleans 14, Ottawa 35: Ottawa leads by 21 points.
Food & drink. New Orleans 84, Ottawa 45: New Orleans leads by 39 points.
Culture & sights. New Orleans 67, Ottawa 62: New Orleans leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. New Orleans 85, Ottawa 35: New Orleans leads by 50 points.
Nature & outdoors. New Orleans 42, Ottawa 68: Ottawa leads by 26 points.
Day trips. New Orleans 52, Ottawa 55: Ottawa leads by 3 points.
Good for families. New Orleans 55, Ottawa 68: Ottawa leads by 13 points.
Getting around. New Orleans 55, Ottawa 62: Ottawa leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. New Orleans 54, Ottawa 40: New Orleans leads by 14 points.
Affordability. New Orleans and Ottawa are level on 40.
Live music & performing arts. New Orleans 80, Ottawa 52: New Orleans leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. New Orleans 25, Ottawa 55: Ottawa leads by 30 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: New Orleans and Ottawa.

Your match

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

New Orleans
Best match
54match

Wins on nightlife and food and drink with your weighting.

Ottawa
51match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

New Orleans in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
169 mmrain in the month
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Ottawa in July

27 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
New OrleansOttawa

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. New Orleans: 1991-2020 normals, New Orleans Airport (2.7 km from centre). Ottawa: 1991-2020 normals, Ottawa CDA RCS (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureNew OrleansOttawa
Official language-French, English
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation-2 m70 m
Main airportLouis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY)18 km from centre51 non-stop destinationsOttawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW)12 km from centre46 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureNew OrleansOttawa
City population383,9971,017,449
People per km²423366
Museums within 10 km1620
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C7 months-

Where else could you go?

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