VacationSelector
Hawthorne Bridge and downtown, Portland
PortlandHawthorne Bridge and downtown
A chairlift and the runs on Whistler Mountain, Whistler
WhistlerA chairlift and the runs on Whistler Mountain

Photos: Portland by Cacophony, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Whistler by Ruth Hartnup, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Portland or Whistler?

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 Portland for

  • live music and the arts
  • food and drink
  • day trips

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

Choose Whistler for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Whistler’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. Portland 20, Whistler 30: Whistler leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Portland 68, Whistler 40: Portland leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. Portland 38, Whistler 20: Portland leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Portland 52, Whistler 42: Portland leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Portland 84, Whistler 97: Whistler leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Portland 58, Whistler 30: Portland leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Portland 55, Whistler 68: Whistler leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Portland 62, Whistler 68: Whistler leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Portland 52, Whistler 30: Portland leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Portland 38, Whistler 12: Portland leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Portland 55, Whistler 15: Portland leads by 40 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Portland 42, Whistler 60: Whistler leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Portland and Whistler.

Your match

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

Portland
Best match
52match

Wins on live music and the arts and food and drink with your weighting.

Whistler
43match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Portland in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
15 hdaylight a day

Whistler in July

25 °Cdaytime high
10 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
PortlandWhistler

Where the figures come from

Whistler has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Portland: 1991-2020 normals, Portland International Airport (9.8 km from centre). Whistler: 1991-2020 normals, Whistler - Nesters (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePortlandWhistler
Official language-French, English
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation152 m670 m
Main airportPortland International Airport (PDX)10 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsVancouver International Airport (YVR)104 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasurePortlandWhistler
City population652,50313,982
People per km²1,73658
Museums within 10 km171
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Portland or Whistler 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.