VacationSelector
Parliament Hill across the Ottawa River, Ottawa
OttawaParliament Hill across the Ottawa River
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70

Photos: Ottawa by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Seattle by Caio, Pexels License.

Ottawa or Seattle?

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

  • prices
  • wellness
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Seattle for

  • food and drink
  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Seattle’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, Seattle 30: Ottawa leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Ottawa 45, Seattle 66: Seattle leads by 21 points.
Culture & sights. Ottawa 62, Seattle 50: Ottawa leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Ottawa 35, Seattle 55: Seattle leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Ottawa 68, Seattle 87: Seattle leads by 19 points.
Day trips. Ottawa and Seattle are level on 55.
Good for families. Ottawa 68, Seattle 64: Ottawa leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Ottawa 62, Seattle 60: Ottawa leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Ottawa 40, Seattle 52: Seattle leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Ottawa 40, Seattle 22: Ottawa leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Ottawa 52, Seattle 70: Seattle leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Ottawa 55, Seattle 40: Ottawa leads by 15 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Ottawa and Seattle.

Your match

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

Ottawa
51match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

Seattle
Best match
54match

Wins on food and drink 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

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
OttawaSeattle

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Ottawa: 1991-2020 normals, Ottawa CDA RCS (5.3 km from centre). Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOttawaSeattle
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-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation70 m40 m
Main airportOttawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW)12 km from centre46 non-stop destinationsSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureOttawaSeattle
City population1,017,449737,015
People per km²3661,996
Museums within 10 km2027
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Seattle 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. 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.