VacationSelector
Parliament Hill across the Ottawa River, Ottawa
OttawaParliament Hill across the Ottawa River
The Hofburg and Heldenplatz, Vienna
ViennaThe Hofburg and Heldenplatz

Photos: Ottawa by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Vienna by C.Stadler/Bwag, CC BY-SA 3.0 AT, cropped.

Ottawa or Vienna?

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

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Vienna for

  • live music and the arts
  • getting around
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Vienna’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, Vienna 27: Ottawa leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Ottawa 45, Vienna 68: Vienna leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Ottawa 62, Vienna 89: Vienna leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Ottawa 35, Vienna 50: Vienna leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Ottawa 68, Vienna 62: Ottawa leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Ottawa 55, Vienna 74: Vienna leads by 19 points.
Good for families. Ottawa 68, Vienna 77: Vienna leads by 9 points.
Getting around. Ottawa 62, Vienna 90: Vienna leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Ottawa 40, Vienna 62: Vienna leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Ottawa 40, Vienna 44: Vienna leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Ottawa 52, Vienna 96: Vienna leads by 44 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Ottawa 55, Vienna 58: Vienna leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Ottawa and Vienna.

Your match

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

Ottawa
51match

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

Vienna
Best match
66match

Wins on live music and the arts and getting around 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

Vienna in July

27 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
78 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
OttawaVienna

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Ottawa: 1991-2020 normals, Ottawa CDA RCS (5.3 km from centre). Vienna: 1991-2020 normals, Wien / Hohe Warte (4.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOttawaVienna
Official languageFrench, EnglishGerman, Austrian Sign Language
CurrencyCanadian Dollar (CAD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation70 m151 m
Main airportOttawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW)12 km from centre46 non-stop destinationsVienna International Airport (VIE)18 km from centre202 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureOttawaVienna
City population1,017,4492,028,289
People per km²3664,890
Museums within 10 km20152
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13

Where else could you go?

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