VacationSelector
Parliament Hill across the Ottawa River, Ottawa
OttawaParliament Hill across the Ottawa River
The Viru Gate, Tallinn
TallinnThe Viru Gate

Photos: Ottawa by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Tallinn by Jorge Franganillo, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Ottawa or Tallinn?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • beaches

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

Choose Tallinn for

  • getting around
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Tallinn’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, Tallinn 28: Ottawa leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Ottawa 45, Tallinn 52: Tallinn leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Ottawa 62, Tallinn 68: Tallinn leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Ottawa 35, Tallinn 44: Tallinn leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Ottawa 68, Tallinn 55: Ottawa leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Ottawa 55, Tallinn 58: Tallinn leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Ottawa 68, Tallinn 60: Ottawa leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Ottawa 62, Tallinn 72: Tallinn leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Ottawa and Tallinn are level on 40.
Affordability. Ottawa 40, Tallinn 47: Tallinn leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Ottawa 52, Tallinn 50: Ottawa leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Ottawa 55, Tallinn 50: Ottawa leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Ottawa and Tallinn.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Ottawa
51match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and families with your weighting.

Tallinn
52match

Wins on getting around 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 recordsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Tallinn in July

22 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
18 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
OttawaTallinn

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Ottawa: 1991-2020 normals, Ottawa CDA RCS (5.3 km from centre). Tallinn: 1991-2020 normals, Tallin / Harku (10.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOttawaTallinn
Official languageFrench, EnglishEstonian
CurrencyCanadian Dollar (CAD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation70 m28 m
Main airportOttawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW)12 km from centre46 non-stop destinationsLennart Meri Tallinn Airport (TLL)6 km from centre56 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureOttawaTallinn
City population1,017,449457,572
People per km²3662,871
Museums within 10 km2016
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Tallinn 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. 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.