VacationSelector
Camelback Mountain above the city, Scottsdale
ScottsdaleCamelback Mountain above the city
A chairlift and the runs on Whistler Mountain, Whistler
WhistlerA chairlift and the runs on Whistler Mountain

Photos: Scottsdale by Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Whistler by Ruth Hartnup, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Scottsdale 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 Scottsdale for

  • shopping
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

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

Choose Whistler for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

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. Scottsdale 8, Whistler 30: Whistler leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Scottsdale 46, Whistler 40: Scottsdale leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Scottsdale 38, Whistler 20: Scottsdale leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Scottsdale 52, Whistler 42: Scottsdale leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Scottsdale 68, Whistler 97: Whistler leads by 29 points.
Day trips. Scottsdale 50, Whistler 30: Scottsdale leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Scottsdale 60, Whistler 68: Whistler leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Scottsdale 20, Whistler 68: Whistler leads by 48 points.
Shopping & style. Scottsdale 60, Whistler 30: Scottsdale leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Scottsdale 32, Whistler 12: Scottsdale leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Scottsdale 40, Whistler 15: Scottsdale leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Scottsdale 72, Whistler 60: Scottsdale leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Scottsdale and Whistler.

Your match

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

Scottsdale
Best match
46match

Wins on shopping and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Whistler
43match

Wins on getting around 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.

Scottsdale in July

41 °Cdaytime high
29 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
14 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°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
ScottsdaleWhistler

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. Scottsdale: 1991-2020 normals, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (13.3 km from centre). Whistler: 1991-2020 normals, Whistler - Nesters (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureScottsdaleWhistler
Official language-French, English
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-7UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation380 m670 m
Main airportPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)10 km from centre149 non-stop destinationsVancouver International Airport (YVR)104 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureScottsdaleWhistler
City population241,36113,982
People per km²-58
Museums within 10 km101
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 Scottsdale 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.