VacationSelector
Parliament Hill across the Ottawa River, Ottawa
OttawaParliament Hill across the Ottawa River
Camelback Mountain above the city, Scottsdale
ScottsdaleCamelback Mountain above the city

Photos: Ottawa by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Scottsdale by Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Ottawa or Scottsdale?

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

  • getting around
  • beaches
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Scottsdale for

  • shopping
  • nightlife
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Scottsdale’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, Scottsdale 8: Ottawa leads by 27 points.
Food & drink. Ottawa 45, Scottsdale 46: Scottsdale leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Ottawa 62, Scottsdale 38: Ottawa leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Ottawa 35, Scottsdale 52: Scottsdale leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Ottawa and Scottsdale are level on 68.
Day trips. Ottawa 55, Scottsdale 50: Ottawa leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Ottawa 68, Scottsdale 60: Ottawa leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Ottawa 62, Scottsdale 20: Ottawa leads by 42 points.
Shopping & style. Ottawa 40, Scottsdale 60: Scottsdale leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Ottawa 40, Scottsdale 32: Ottawa leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Ottawa 52, Scottsdale 40: Ottawa leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Ottawa 55, Scottsdale 72: Scottsdale leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Ottawa and Scottsdale.

Your match

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

Ottawa
Best match
51match

Wins on getting around and beaches with your weighting.

Scottsdale
46match

Wins on shopping 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
15 hdaylight a day

Scottsdale in July

41 °Cdaytime high
29 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
OttawaScottsdale

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Ottawa: 1991-2020 normals, Ottawa CDA RCS (5.3 km from centre). Scottsdale: 1991-2020 normals, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOttawaScottsdale
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
Emergency number911911
Elevation70 m380 m
Main airportOttawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW)12 km from centre46 non-stop destinationsPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)10 km from centre148 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureOttawaScottsdale
City population1,017,449241,361
People per km²366-
Museums within 10 km2010
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 Scottsdale 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.