Portland or Quebec City?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Too close to call, 1 point apart
Wins on nightlife and places to eat with your weighting.
Wins on good for families and museums & heritage with your weighting.
What matters to you?
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. Portland and Quebec City are level on 0.
| Portland | Quebec City | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 0 | 0 |
| Swim season months | 0 | 0 |
| Beaches 10 km | 27 | 9 |
| Coast distance | 69 km | 47 km |
| Water distance | — | — |
Places to eat. Portland leads by 19 points.19
| Portland | Quebec City | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 74 | 55 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 1,011 | 387 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 44 | 31 |
Museums & heritage. Quebec City leads by 11 points.11
| Portland | Quebec City | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 35 | 46 |
| Museums within 10 km | 23 | 26 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 15 | 19 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 65 | 73 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 0 | 1 |
Nightlife. Portland leads by 27 points.27
| Portland | Quebec City | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 58 | 31 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 942 | 250 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 518 | 195 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 55 | 78 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 32 | 8 |
Nature & day trips. Quebec City leads by 8 points.8
| Portland | Quebec City | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 35 | 43 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 13 | 7 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 3 | 0 |
| Land share of disc % | 100 | 100 |
| Park area within 2 km | 37 hectares | 172 hectares |
Good for families. Quebec City leads by 16 points.16
| Portland | Quebec City | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 34 | 50 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 8 | 12 |
| Park area within 2 km | 37 hectares | 172 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 2 | 1 |
Sights concentration. Quebec City leads by 8 points.8
| Portland | Quebec City | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 35 | 43 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 29 | 47 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Quebec City leads by 11 points.11
| Portland | Quebec City | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 43 | 54 |
| Price level global | 100 | 84 |
| Daily budget | — | — |
Year-round weather. Portland leads by 19 points.19
| Portland | Quebec City | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 65 | 46 |
| Monthly daytime high | 7.9 °C to 27.7 °C | -5.7 °C to 25.3 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 13 mm to 145 mm | 79 mm to 123 mm |
| Dry months | 3 | 0 |
When should you go?
The figures behind each month. Each row is shaded against that destination's own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that measure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.
Temperature and rainfall are thirty-year climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Portland: 1991-2020 normals, Portland International Airport (9.8 km from centre). Quebec City: 1991-2020 normals, Beauport (3.2 km from centre).
Getting there
| Flying from | Portland | Quebec City |
|---|---|---|
| New YorkJFK, EWR, LGA | 5 h 20 m no fares PDX · 10 km | 1 h 30 m no fares YQB · 13 km |
| ChicagoORD, MDW, DPA, PWK +1 | 3 h 55 m no fares PDX · 10 km | 2 h 20 m no fares YQB · 13 km |
| DallasDFW, DAL, AFW | 3 h 45 m no fares PDX · 10 km | 3 h 50 m no fares YQB · 13 km |
| CancunCUN | 5 h 40 m no fares PDX · 10 km | 4 h 25 m no fares YQB · 13 km |
| WashingtonIAD, DCA | 5 h 5 m no fares PDX · 10 km | 1 h 50 m no fares YQB · 13 km |
| Puerto VallartaPVR | 4 h 25 m no fares PDX · 10 km | 5 h 35 m no fares YQB · 13 km |
| PhiladelphiaPHL, TTN | 5 h 15 m no fares PDX · 10 km | 1 h 40 m no fares YQB · 13 km |
| CharlotteCLT | 5 h 0 m no fares PDX · 10 km | 2 h 25 m no fares YQB · 13 km |
| CalgaryYYC | 1 h 40 m no fares PDX · 10 km | 4 h 20 m no fares YQB · 13 km |
| Fort LauderdaleFLL, FXE | 5 h 45 m no fares PDX · 10 km | 3 h 30 m no fares YQB · 13 km |
The busiest departure cities for these two, with a place kept for each other part of the world. Busiest means arriving passengers where an official count exists, and where none does, the number of non-stop services flown: official route statistics are published by the European reporting countries and by nobody else, so a table ranked on them alone would offer a reader in New York or Tokyo ten European cities. Flying times are estimated from the distance between airports, and every row is a city flown non-stop to both. Where the typical offer connects anyway, the stops are shown. Under each figure is the airport the flight lands at and how far that is from the centre, because the nearest airport is not always the one a route is flown to. Where both columns name the same airport it is one flight, and the difference between the two is the distance printed beside it.
Before you go
| Measure | Portland | Quebec City |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | – | French, English |
| Currency | US Dollar (USD) | Canadian Dollar (CAD) |
| Sockets | AB120 V, 60 Hz | AB120 V, 60 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer | UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer |
| Emergency number | 911 | 911 |
| Elevation | 152 m | 98 m |
| Main airport | Portland International Airport (PDX)10 km from centre87 non-stop destinations | Quebec Jean Lesage International Airport (YQB)13 km from centre31 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 12 days | 10 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Portland | Quebec City |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 652,503 | 574,482 |
| People per km² | 1,736 | 1,184 |
| Museums within 10 km | 17 | 16 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 0 | 1 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 82 | 47 |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Portland or Quebec City somewhere new.