VacationSelector
Parliament Hill across the Ottawa River, Ottawa
OttawaParliament Hill across the Ottawa River
Charles Bridge and the Old Town Bridge Tower, Prague
PragueCharles Bridge and the Old Town Bridge Tower

Photos: Ottawa by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Prague by Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Ottawa or Prague?

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 Ottawa for

  • beaches
  • families
  • wellness

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

Choose Prague for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Prague’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. Ottawa 35, Prague 10: Ottawa leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Ottawa 45, Prague 50: Prague leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Ottawa 62, Prague 83: Prague leads by 21 points.
Nightlife. Ottawa 35, Prague 65: Prague leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Ottawa 68, Prague 58: Ottawa leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Ottawa 55, Prague 77: Prague leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Ottawa 68, Prague 50: Ottawa leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Ottawa 62, Prague 83: Prague leads by 21 points.
Shopping & style. Ottawa 40, Prague 50: Prague leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Ottawa 40, Prague 62: Prague leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Ottawa 52, Prague 76: Prague leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Ottawa 55, Prague 40: Ottawa leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Ottawa and Prague.

Your match

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

Ottawa
51match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Prague
Best match
59match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Ottawa in July

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

Prague in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
76 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
OttawaPrague

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Ottawa: 1991-2020 normals, Ottawa CDA RCS (5.3 km from centre). Prague: 1991-2020 normals, Praha-Libus (8.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOttawaPrague
Official languageFrench, EnglishCzech
CurrencyCanadian Dollar (CAD)Czech Koruna (CZK)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation70 m235 m
Main airportOttawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW)12 km from centre46 non-stop destinationsVáclav Havel Airport Prague (PRG)12 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureOttawaPrague
City population1,017,4491,397,880
People per km²3662,817
Museums within 10 km2088
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11

Where else could you go?

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