VacationSelector
Parliament Hill across the Ottawa River, Ottawa
OttawaParliament Hill across the Ottawa River
The House of the Blackheads at dusk, Riga
RigaThe House of the Blackheads at dusk

Photos: Ottawa by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Riga by Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Ottawa or Riga?

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

  • families
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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

Choose Riga for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Riga’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, Riga 40: Riga leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Ottawa 45, Riga 52: Riga leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Ottawa 62, Riga 66: Riga leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Ottawa 35, Riga 52: Riga leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Ottawa 68, Riga 55: Ottawa leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Ottawa 55, Riga 60: Riga leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Ottawa 68, Riga 50: Ottawa leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Ottawa 62, Riga 68: Riga leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Ottawa 40, Riga 45: Riga leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Ottawa 40, Riga 62: Riga leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Ottawa 52, Riga 65: Riga leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Ottawa 55, Riga 50: Ottawa leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Ottawa and Riga.

Your match

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

Ottawa
51match

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

Riga
Best match
55match

Wins on prices and nightlife 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 seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Riga in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
18 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
OttawaRiga

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Ottawa: 1991-2020 normals, Ottawa CDA RCS (5.3 km from centre). Riga: 1991-2020 normals, Riga (4.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOttawaRiga
Official languageFrench, EnglishLatvian
CurrencyCanadian Dollar (CAD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation70 m6 m
Main airportOttawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW)12 km from centre46 non-stop destinationsRiga International Airport (RIX)9 km from centre93 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureOttawaRiga
City population1,017,449588,911
People per km²366-
Museums within 10 km2012
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

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