VacationSelector
The Opera House on the fjord, Oslo
OsloThe Opera House on the fjord
Gastown, Vancouver
VancouverGastown

Photos: Oslo by Beata May, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Vancouver by Xicotencatl, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Oslo or Vancouver?

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

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Vancouver for

  • food and drink
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Vancouver’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, Vancouver 42: Vancouver leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Oslo 55, Vancouver 72: Vancouver leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Oslo 66, Vancouver 42: Oslo leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Oslo 48, Vancouver 42: Oslo leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Oslo 82, Vancouver 97: Vancouver leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Oslo 52, Vancouver 45: Oslo leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Oslo 63, Vancouver 72: Vancouver leads by 9 points.
Getting around. Oslo 85, Vancouver 73: Oslo leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Oslo 50, Vancouver 55: Vancouver leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Oslo 14, Vancouver 27: Vancouver leads by 13 points.
Live music & performing arts. Oslo 62, Vancouver 52: Oslo leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Oslo 60, Vancouver 50: Oslo leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Oslo and Vancouver.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Oslo
56match

Wins on culture and sights and getting around with your weighting.

Vancouver
56match

Wins on food and drink 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.

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

Vancouver in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
42 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
OsloVancouver

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Oslo: 1991-2020 normals, Oslo-Blindern (4.3 km from centre). Vancouver: 1991-2020 normals, Vancouver Harbour CS (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOsloVancouver
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-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 113, fire 110911
Elevation23 m2 m
Main airportOslo-Gardermoen International Airport (OSL)37 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsVancouver International Airport (YVR)9 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureOsloVancouver
City population717,710662,248
People per km²-5,759
Museums within 10 km6026
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Oslo or Vancouver 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.