VacationSelector
Parliament Hill across the Ottawa River, Ottawa
OttawaParliament Hill across the Ottawa River
The Latin Bridge over the Miljacka, Sarajevo
SarajevoThe Latin Bridge over the Miljacka

Photos: Ottawa by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Sarajevo by Tumi-1983, CC0.

Ottawa or Sarajevo?

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
  • beaches
  • wellness

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

Choose Sarajevo for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Sarajevo’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, Sarajevo 6: Ottawa leads by 29 points.
Food & drink. Ottawa 45, Sarajevo 60: Sarajevo leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Ottawa 62, Sarajevo 64: Sarajevo leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Ottawa 35, Sarajevo 44: Sarajevo leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Ottawa 68, Sarajevo 78: Sarajevo leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Ottawa 55, Sarajevo 62: Sarajevo leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Ottawa 68, Sarajevo 38: Ottawa leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Ottawa 62, Sarajevo 60: Ottawa leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Ottawa and Sarajevo are level on 40.
Affordability. Ottawa 40, Sarajevo 80: Sarajevo leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Ottawa 52, Sarajevo 40: Ottawa leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Ottawa 55, Sarajevo 42: Ottawa leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Ottawa and Sarajevo.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Ottawa
51match

Wins on families and beaches with your weighting.

Sarajevo
51match

Wins on prices and food and drink 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

Sarajevo in July

28 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
75 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
OttawaSarajevo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Ottawa: 1991-2020 normals, Ottawa CDA RCS (5.3 km from centre). Sarajevo: 1991-2020 normals, Sarajevo-Bejelave (2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOttawaSarajevo
Official languageFrench, EnglishCroatian, Serbian, Bosnian
CurrencyCanadian Dollar (CAD)Convertible Mark (BAM)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation70 m518 m
Main airportOttawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW)12 km from centre46 non-stop destinationsSarajevo International Airport (SJJ)7 km from centre38 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days8 days

By the numbers

MeasureOttawaSarajevo
City population1,017,449275,524
People per km²3661,947
Museums within 10 km2025
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 Sarajevo 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.