VacationSelector
Parliament Hill across the Ottawa River, Ottawa
OttawaParliament Hill across the Ottawa River
The Christuskirche among palms, Windhoek
WindhoekThe Christuskirche among palms

Photos: Ottawa by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Windhoek by Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Ottawa or Windhoek?

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

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • families

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

Choose Windhoek for

  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Windhoek’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, Windhoek 4: Ottawa leads by 31 points.
Food & drink. Ottawa 45, Windhoek 36: Ottawa leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Ottawa 62, Windhoek 30: Ottawa leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. Ottawa 35, Windhoek 25: Ottawa leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Ottawa 68, Windhoek 52: Ottawa leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Ottawa 55, Windhoek 14: Ottawa leads by 41 points.
Good for families. Ottawa 68, Windhoek 30: Ottawa leads by 38 points.
Getting around. Ottawa 62, Windhoek 22: Ottawa leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. Ottawa 40, Windhoek 30: Ottawa leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Ottawa 40, Windhoek 62: Windhoek leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Ottawa 52, Windhoek 18: Ottawa leads by 34 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Ottawa 55, Windhoek 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 Windhoek.

Your match

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

Ottawa
Best match
51match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

Windhoek
29match

Wins on 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
15 hdaylight a day

Windhoek in July

22 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
OttawaWindhoek

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Ottawa: 1991-2020 normals, Ottawa CDA RCS (5.3 km from centre). Windhoek: 1991-2020 normals, Windhoek (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOttawaWindhoek
Official languageFrench, EnglishEnglish
CurrencyCanadian Dollar (CAD)Namibia Dollar (NAD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzM220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+2
Emergency number911112
Elevation70 m1,650 m
Main airportOttawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW)12 km from centre46 non-stop destinationsHosea Kutako International Airport (WDH)41 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureOttawaWindhoek
City population1,017,449486,169
People per km²36695
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 Windhoek 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.