Ottawa or Quebec City?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Too close to call, 2 points apart
Wins on nightlife and places to eat with your weighting.
Wins on museums & heritage and good for families with your weighting.
What matters to you?
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.
The verdict
Choose Ottawa if you want more on the ground once you arrive: about twice as many restaurants near the centre, considerably more bars and clubs, and about twice as many notable places within walking distance. It also runs warmer through the year.
Choose Quebec City if heritage is the reason for the trip: roughly twice as many museums, packed tightly around the centre, with more park space close in.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. Ottawa and Quebec City are level on 0.
| Ottawa | Quebec City | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 0 | 0 |
| Swim season months | 0 | 0 |
| Beaches 10 km | 9 | 9 |
| Coast distance | 423 km | 47 km |
| Water distance | — | — |
Places to eat. Ottawa leads by 9 points.9
| Ottawa | Quebec City | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 64 | 55 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 684 | 387 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 34 | 31 |
Museums & heritage. Quebec City leads by 14 points.14
| Ottawa | Quebec City | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 32 | 46 |
| Museums within 10 km | 15 | 26 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 8 | 19 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 53 | 73 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 1 | 1 |
Nightlife. Ottawa leads by 13 points.13
| Ottawa | Quebec City | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 44 | 31 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 432 | 250 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 303 | 195 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 70 | 78 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 35 | 8 |
Nature & day trips. Quebec City leads by 2 points.2
| Ottawa | Quebec City | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 41 | 43 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 8 | 7 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 0 | 0 |
| Land share of disc % | 100 | 100 |
| Park area within 2 km | 122 hectares | 172 hectares |
Good for families. Quebec City leads by 4 points.4
| Ottawa | Quebec City | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 46 | 50 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 11 | 12 |
| Park area within 2 km | 122 hectares | 172 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 1 | 1 |
Sights concentration. Ottawa leads by 7 points.7
| Ottawa | Quebec City | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 50 | 43 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 71 | 47 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Ottawa and Quebec City are level on 54.
| Ottawa | Quebec City | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 54 | 54 |
| Price level global | 84 | 84 |
| Daily budget | — | — |
Year-round weather. Ottawa leads by 7 points.7
| Ottawa | Quebec City | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 53 | 46 |
| Monthly daytime high | -4.9 °C to 27 °C | -5.7 °C to 25.3 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 53 mm to 94 mm | 79 mm to 123 mm |
| Dry months | 0 | 0 |
Where they differ
Ottawa's advantage is density of things open in the evening. It has about twice as many restaurants near the centre as Quebec City, about twice as many places to drink and many times as many nightclubs, most of them close in, plus about twice as many notable places within walking distance. Its year also runs warmer, -5-27°C against -6-25°C.
Quebec City answers with heritage: roughly twice as many museums, sitting more tightly around the centre. Both have 1 UNESCO-listed place within day-trip reach.
Where they are alike
Swimming is where they are identical, and identically limited. Each has 9 beaches nearby, and neither has a month with the sea at 21°C or more, so neither trip is a swimming trip.
Outdoors they land close: 8% of the land around Ottawa is protected against 7% around Quebec City. For families, both have similar numbers of attractions near the centre and 1 theme park within reach, though Quebec City has more park space close in.
Which traveller are you?
Someone planning evenings out should take Ottawa. It has about twice as many restaurants near the centre and about twice as many places to drink, plus many times the nightclubs, and most of them sit close in.
A museum-led traveller should take Quebec City, with roughly twice as many museums, grouped tightly enough to walk between them, and 1 UNESCO-listed place within day-trip reach, as Ottawa also has.
Families are closer to a draw: similar numbers of attractions near the centre and 1 theme park each, with more park space in Quebec City, but Ottawa's summers are warmer, reaching 27°C in July.
What the numbers don't tell you
No cost comparison is possible here. The value figure behind both cities is a national price level, so it is identical for the two by construction and says nothing about which trip costs more, and the dataset carries no daily budget for either. Treat cost as unanswered and price it yourself.
The sunshine series is missing for both, not low, so the weather picture rests on temperature and rainfall alone. And the beach count misleads: 9 beaches each, but no month with the sea at 21°C or more, so they are shore, not swimming.
When should you go?
The figures behind each month. Each row is shaded against that destination's own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that measure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.
Temperature and rainfall are thirty-year climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Ottawa: 1991-2020 normals, Ottawa CDA RCS (5.3 km from centre). Quebec City: 1991-2020 normals, Beauport (3.2 km from centre).
Ottawa has the longer warm season. May to September is workable, climbing to 27°C in July, and summer rainfall sits at 66-89mm, the lighter of the two.
Quebec City's best slot is narrower, July and August at 25°C, and it is the wetter city throughout, with 103-119mm falling in those two months and 123mm in October. Its shoulder months cool off faster, so late spring and early autumn favour Ottawa. Midwinter is below freezing in both, and rain does not let up in either.
Getting there
| Flying from | Ottawa | Quebec City |
|---|---|---|
| MontrealYUL, YHU, YMX | 50 m no fares YOW · 12 km | 55 m no fares YQB · 13 km |
| TorontoYYZ, YHM, YTZ | 1 h 5 m no fares YOW · 12 km | 1 h 30 m no fares YQB · 13 km |
| CancunCUN | 4 h 5 m no fares YOW · 12 km | 4 h 25 m no fares YQB · 13 km |
| Punta CanaPUJ | 4 h 15 m no fares YOW · 12 km | 4 h 20 m no fares YQB · 13 km |
| New YorkJFK, EWR, LGA | 1 h 20 m no fares YOW · 12 km | 1 h 30 m no fares YQB · 13 km |
| ChicagoORD, MDW, DPA, PWK +1 | 1 h 55 m no fares YOW · 12 km | 2 h 20 m no fares YQB · 13 km |
| Puerto VallartaPVR | 5 h 10 m no fares YOW · 12 km | 5 h 35 m no fares YQB · 13 km |
| CalgaryYYC | 4 h 5 m no fares YOW · 12 km | 4 h 20 m no fares YQB · 13 km |
| Puerto PlataPOP | 4 h 5 m no fares YOW · 12 km | 4 h 10 m no fares YQB · 13 km |
| ParisCDG, ORY, BVA | 7 h 20 m no fares YOW · 12 km | 6 h 55 m no fares YQB · 13 km |
The busiest departure cities for these two, with a place kept for each other part of the world. Busiest means arriving passengers where an official count exists, and where none does, the number of non-stop services flown: official route statistics are published by the European reporting countries and by nobody else, so a table ranked on them alone would offer a reader in New York or Tokyo ten European cities. Flying times are estimated from the distance between airports, and every row is a city flown non-stop to both. Where the typical offer connects anyway, the stops are shown. Under each figure is the airport the flight lands at and how far that is from the centre, because the nearest airport is not always the one a route is flown to. Where both columns name the same airport it is one flight, and the difference between the two is the distance printed beside it.
Before you go
| Measure | Ottawa | Quebec City |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | French, English | French, English |
| Currency | Canadian Dollar (CAD) | Canadian Dollar (CAD) |
| Sockets | AB120 V, 60 Hz | AB120 V, 60 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer | UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer |
| Emergency number | 911 | 911 |
| Elevation | 70 m | 98 m |
| Main airport | Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW)12 km from centre46 non-stop destinations | Quebec Jean Lesage International Airport (YQB)13 km from centre31 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 11 days | 10 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Ottawa | Quebec City |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 1,017,449 | 574,482 |
| People per km² | 366 | 1,184 |
| Museums within 10 km | 20 | 16 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 1 | 1 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 62 | 47 |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Ottawa or Quebec City somewhere new.