VacationSelector
Parliament Hill across the Ottawa River, Ottawa
OttawaParliament Hill across the Ottawa River
The Assembly Hall on Temple Square, Salt Lake City
Salt Lake CityThe Assembly Hall on Temple Square

Photos: Ottawa by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Salt Lake City by hakkun, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Ottawa or Salt Lake City?

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
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Salt Lake City for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Salt Lake City’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, Salt Lake City 12: Ottawa leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Ottawa 45, Salt Lake City 40: Ottawa leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Ottawa 62, Salt Lake City 42: Ottawa leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Ottawa 35, Salt Lake City 30: Ottawa leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Ottawa 68, Salt Lake City 90: Salt Lake City leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Ottawa 55, Salt Lake City 34: Ottawa leads by 21 points.
Good for families. Ottawa 68, Salt Lake City 72: Salt Lake City leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Ottawa 62, Salt Lake City 42: Ottawa leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Ottawa 40, Salt Lake City 36: Ottawa leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Ottawa and Salt Lake City are level on 40.
Live music & performing arts. Ottawa 52, Salt Lake City 55: Salt Lake City leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Ottawa 55, Salt Lake City 38: Ottawa leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Ottawa and Salt Lake City.

Your match

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

Ottawa
Best match
51match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

Salt Lake City
44match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

Ottawa in July

27 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
15 hdaylight a day

Salt Lake City in July

34 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
OttawaSalt Lake City

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Ottawa: 1991-2020 normals, Ottawa CDA RCS (5.3 km from centre). Salt Lake City: 1991-2020 normals, Salt Lake City International Airport (7.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOttawaSalt Lake City
Official languageFrench, English-
CurrencyCanadian Dollar (CAD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-7, UTC-6 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation70 m1,288 m
Main airportOttawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW)12 km from centre46 non-stop destinationsSalt Lake City International Airport (SLC)9 km from centre108 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureOttawaSalt Lake City
City population1,017,449199,723
People per km²366690
Museums within 10 km2012
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Ottawa or Salt Lake City 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.