VacationSelector
The Arctic Cathedral, Tromso
TromsoThe Arctic Cathedral
The British Columbia Parliament Buildings, Victoria
VictoriaThe British Columbia Parliament Buildings

Photos: Tromso by Moyan Brenn, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Victoria by Guilice, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Tromso or Victoria?

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 Tromso for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

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

Choose Victoria for

  • day trips
  • shopping
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Victoria’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. Tromso 8, Victoria 28: Victoria leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Tromso 36, Victoria 50: Victoria leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Tromso 27, Victoria 42: Victoria leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Tromso 38, Victoria 30: Tromso leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Tromso 92, Victoria 77: Tromso leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Tromso 14, Victoria 54: Victoria leads by 40 points.
Good for families. Tromso 45, Victoria 62: Victoria leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Tromso and Victoria are level on 60.
Shopping & style. Tromso 15, Victoria 40: Victoria leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Tromso 11, Victoria 34: Victoria leads by 23 points.
Live music & performing arts. Tromso 32, Victoria 40: Victoria leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Tromso 38, Victoria 48: Victoria leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Tromso and Victoria.

Your match

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

Tromso
35match

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

Victoria
Best match
47match

Wins on day trips and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Tromso in July

16 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
10 °Csea
24 hdaylight a day

Victoria in July

21 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
11 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-5°0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
TromsoVictoria

Where the figures come from

Victoria's sunshine is measured 87 km from the centre, at Vancouver International Airport.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Tromso: 1991-2020 normals, Tromso (0.9 km from centre). Victoria: 1991-2020 normals, Victoria Gonzales CS (3.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureTromsoVictoria
Official languageNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, SámiFrench, English
CurrencyNorwegian Krone (NOK)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 113, fire 110911
Elevation20 m23 m
Main airportTromsø Airport (TOS)4 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsVictoria International Airport (YYJ)25 km from centre16 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureTromsoVictoria
City population79,94391,867
People per km²324,711
Museums within 10 km86
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Tromso or Victoria 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.