VacationSelector
Parliament Hill across the Ottawa River, Ottawa
OttawaParliament Hill across the Ottawa River
The old town below the fortress, Salzburg
SalzburgThe old town below the fortress

Photos: Ottawa by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Salzburg by Leonhard Niederwimmer, Pexels License.

Ottawa or Salzburg?

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

  • nightlife
  • prices
  • families

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

Choose Salzburg for

  • live music and the arts
  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Salzburg’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 and Salzburg are level on 35.
Food & drink. Ottawa and Salzburg are level on 45.
Culture & sights. Ottawa 62, Salzburg 72: Salzburg leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Ottawa 35, Salzburg 25: Ottawa leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Ottawa 68, Salzburg 86: Salzburg leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Ottawa 55, Salzburg 80: Salzburg leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Ottawa 68, Salzburg 65: Ottawa leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Ottawa 62, Salzburg 72: Salzburg leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Ottawa 40, Salzburg 48: Salzburg leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Ottawa 40, Salzburg 32: Ottawa leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Ottawa 52, Salzburg 80: Salzburg leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Ottawa and Salzburg are level on 55.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Ottawa and Salzburg.

Your match

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

Ottawa
51match

Wins on nightlife and prices with your weighting.

Salzburg
Best match
58match

Wins on live music and the arts and day trips 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

Salzburg in July

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

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
OttawaSalzburg

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Ottawa: 1991-2020 normals, Ottawa CDA RCS (5.3 km from centre). Salzburg: 1991-2020 normals, Salzburg (3.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOttawaSalzburg
Official languageFrench, EnglishGerman, Austrian Sign Language
CurrencyCanadian Dollar (CAD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation70 m424 m
Main airportOttawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW)12 km from centre46 non-stop destinationsSalzburg Airport (SZG)3 km from centre64 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureOttawaSalzburg
City population1,017,449155,021
People per km²3662,360
Museums within 10 km2038
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13

Where else could you go?

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