VacationSelector
Parliament Hill across the Ottawa River, Ottawa
OttawaParliament Hill across the Ottawa River
The Croatian National Theatre, Zagreb
ZagrebThe Croatian National Theatre

Photos: Ottawa by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Zagreb by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Ottawa or Zagreb?

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
  • wellness
  • families

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

Choose Zagreb for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Zagreb’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, Zagreb 10: Ottawa leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Ottawa 45, Zagreb 55: Zagreb leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Ottawa 62, Zagreb 56: Ottawa leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Ottawa 35, Zagreb 47: Zagreb leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Ottawa 68, Zagreb 62: Ottawa leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Ottawa 55, Zagreb 60: Zagreb leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Ottawa 68, Zagreb 52: Ottawa leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Ottawa 62, Zagreb 70: Zagreb leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Ottawa and Zagreb are level on 40.
Affordability. Ottawa 40, Zagreb 60: Zagreb leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Ottawa and Zagreb are level on 52.
Wellness & relaxation. Ottawa 55, Zagreb 33: Ottawa leads by 22 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Ottawa and Zagreb.

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 beaches and wellness with your weighting.

Zagreb
50match

Wins on prices 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
15 hdaylight a day

Zagreb in July

29 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
OttawaZagreb

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Ottawa: 1991-2020 normals, Ottawa CDA RCS (5.3 km from centre). Zagreb: 1991-2020 normals, Zagreb / Gric (0.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOttawaZagreb
Official languageFrench, EnglishCroatian
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 m127 m
Main airportOttawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (YOW)12 km from centre46 non-stop destinationsZagreb Franjo Tuđman International Airport (ZAG)11 km from centre64 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureOttawaZagreb
City population1,017,449767,131
People per km²366-
Museums within 10 km2027
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 Zagreb 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.