VacationSelector
Parliament Hill across the Ottawa River, Ottawa
OttawaParliament Hill across the Ottawa River
Ushuaia below snow-capped mountains, Ushuaia
UshuaiaUshuaia below snow-capped mountains

Photos: Ottawa by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Ushuaia by Jan Tang, Pexels License.

Ottawa or Ushuaia?

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

  • live music and the arts
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Ushuaia for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Ushuaia’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, Ushuaia 3: Ottawa leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Ottawa 45, Ushuaia 40: Ottawa leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Ottawa 62, Ushuaia 22: Ottawa leads by 40 points.
Nightlife. Ottawa 35, Ushuaia 18: Ottawa leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Ottawa 68, Ushuaia 88: Ushuaia leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Ottawa 55, Ushuaia 14: Ottawa leads by 41 points.
Good for families. Ottawa 68, Ushuaia 40: Ottawa leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Ottawa 62, Ushuaia 45: Ottawa leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Ottawa 40, Ushuaia 22: Ottawa leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Ottawa 40, Ushuaia 42: Ushuaia leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Ottawa 52, Ushuaia 10: Ottawa leads by 42 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Ottawa 55, Ushuaia 26: Ottawa leads by 29 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Ottawa and Ushuaia.

Your match

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

Ottawa
Best match
51match

Wins on live music and the arts and day trips with your weighting.

Ushuaia
31match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and prices 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

Ushuaia in July

4 °Cdaytime high
0 °Cnight-time low
36 mmrain in the month
2 hsunshine a day
8 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
OttawaUshuaia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Ottawa: 1991-2020 normals, Ottawa CDA RCS (5.3 km from centre). Ushuaia: 1991-2020 normals, Ushuaia Aerodrome (1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOttawaUshuaia
Official languageFrench, EnglishSpanish
CurrencyCanadian Dollar (CAD)Argentine Peso (ARS)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-3
Emergency number911117 or 911
Elevation70 m23 m
Main airportOttawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW)12 km from centre46 non-stop destinationsUshuaia - Malvinas Argentinas International Airport (USH)4 km from centre9 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureOttawaUshuaia
City population1,017,44982,615
People per km²3663,592
Museums within 10 km205
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10

Where else could you go?

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