VacationSelector
The Opera House on the fjord, Oslo
OsloThe Opera House on the fjord
Parliament Hill across the Ottawa River, Ottawa
OttawaParliament Hill across the Ottawa River

Photos: Oslo by Beata May, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Ottawa by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Oslo 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 Oslo for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

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

Choose Ottawa for

  • prices
  • families
  • day trips

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. Oslo 36, Ottawa 35: Oslo leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Oslo 55, Ottawa 45: Oslo leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Oslo 66, Ottawa 62: Oslo leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Oslo 48, Ottawa 35: Oslo leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Oslo 82, Ottawa 68: Oslo leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Oslo 52, Ottawa 55: Ottawa leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Oslo 63, Ottawa 68: Ottawa leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Oslo 85, Ottawa 62: Oslo leads by 23 points.
Shopping & style. Oslo 50, Ottawa 40: Oslo leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Oslo 14, Ottawa 40: Ottawa leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Oslo 62, Ottawa 52: Oslo leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Oslo 60, Ottawa 55: Oslo leads by 5 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Oslo
Best match
56match

Wins on getting around and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Ottawa
51match

Wins on prices and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Oslo in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
86 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
18 hdaylight a day

Ottawa in July

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

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
OsloOttawa

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Oslo: 1991-2020 normals, Oslo-Blindern (4.3 km from centre). Ottawa: 1991-2020 normals, Ottawa CDA RCS (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOsloOttawa
Official languageNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, SámiFrench, English
CurrencyNorwegian Krone (NOK)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 113, fire 110911
Elevation23 m70 m
Main airportOslo-Gardermoen International Airport (OSL)37 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsOttawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW)12 km from centre46 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureOsloOttawa
City population717,7101,017,449
People per km²-366
Museums within 10 km6020
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Oslo 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.