VacationSelector
Parliament Hill across the Ottawa River, Ottawa
OttawaParliament Hill across the Ottawa River
The old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river, Tampa
TampaThe old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river

Photos: Ottawa by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Tampa by Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Ottawa or Tampa?

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
  • wellness
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Tampa for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Tampa’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, Tampa 70: Tampa leads by 35 points.
Food & drink. Ottawa 45, Tampa 57: Tampa leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Ottawa 62, Tampa 42: Ottawa leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Ottawa 35, Tampa 52: Tampa leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Ottawa 68, Tampa 55: Ottawa leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Ottawa 55, Tampa 54: Ottawa leads by 1 points.
Good for families. Ottawa 68, Tampa 78: Tampa leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Ottawa 62, Tampa 22: Ottawa leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. Ottawa and Tampa are level on 40.
Affordability. Ottawa and Tampa are level on 40.
Live music & performing arts. Ottawa 52, Tampa 47: Ottawa leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Ottawa 55, Tampa 30: Ottawa leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Ottawa and Tampa.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Ottawa
51match

Wins on getting around and wellness with your weighting.

Tampa
49match

Wins on beaches 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

Tampa in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
197 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
OttawaTampa

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Ottawa: 1991-2020 normals, Ottawa CDA RCS (5.3 km from centre). Tampa: 1991-2020 normals, Tampa International Airport (7.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOttawaTampa
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-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation70 m30 m
Main airportOttawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW)12 km from centre46 non-stop destinationsTampa International Airport (TPA)8 km from centre101 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureOttawaTampa
City population1,017,449384,959
People per km²366848
Museums within 10 km206
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-8 months

Where else could you go?

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