Montrealers tend to think of their city as an easygoing, welcoming place where a stranger might strike up a conversation with you on a terrasse or point you in the right direction without being asked twice.
That reputation was put to the test in a new global ranking, and it turns out Montreal has some competition, including from a lot closer to home than you’d expect.
Holafly, a travel eSIM provider, recently analyzed 200 cities around the world to figure out which ones are the most welcoming to travellers. Six factors went into the ranking: English proficiency scores, social support scores pulled from the World Happiness Report, the number of tourism and information services available in each city (via OpenStreetMap), safety scores from Numbeo, visa and entry openness scores from the Henley Openness Index, and search interest for terms like “friendly” and “welcoming” tied to each city’s name.
Montreal made the list, and it actually did well overall. It just didn’t do quite as well as two other Canadian cities.
Canada’s most welcoming cities
- Ottawa — Rank #15 globally, safety score 69, 81 tourism/info services, search volume 10,570, total score 62.17
- Quebec City — Rank #17 globally, safety score 77.6, 13 tourism/info services, search volume 4,290, total score 61.92
- Montreal — Rank #20 globally, safety score 67.2, 67 tourism/info services, search volume 11,520, total score 61.55
- Toronto — Rank #26 globally, safety score 56.4, 16 tourism/info services, search volume 30,970, total score 60.85
- Calgary — Rank #38 globally, safety score 62.2, 24 tourism/info services, search volume 12,410, total score 59.42
- Vancouver — Rank #57 globally, safety score 57.1, 7 tourism/info services, search volume 11,620, total score 57.55
Every Canadian city posted identical scores for English proficiency (700), visa openness (54), and social support (1.459), since those three metrics get measured at the national level rather than city by city. That leaves three things actually driving the gap between Canadian cities: how safe each one scores, how many tourism and information services it offers, and how much online search buzz it generates around words like “friendly” and “welcoming.”
Ottawa didn’t post the best number in any single category, but no real weak spot dragged it down either. The city landed a solid safety score of 69, offered the most tourism and information services of any Canadian city on the list at 81, and pulled in the second-highest search volume among the group.
This isn’t the first time this month a major travel ranking has put Ottawa ahead of Montreal. Travel + Leisure’s own 2026 reader survey had Ottawa edging out Montreal for Canada’s best city too, though Quebec City topped that particular list outright.
Quebec City actually posted the highest safety score of any Canadian city, at 77.6, but it’s held back by tourism infrastructure. Just 13 tourism and information services were counted there, making for the weakest showing in that category among the top three. The city also logged the lowest search buzz of the bunch.
Montreal’s case is a bit of a mixed bag. Its safety score, 67.2, came in as the lowest of the top three Canadian cities, though it made up ground elsewhere. Sixty-seven tourism and information services were counted in the city, second only to Ottawa, and Montreal actually posted the highest search volume of the top three, at 11,520 mentions of “friendly” and “welcoming.”
Toronto had the highest search volume of any Canadian city, 30,970, was logged there, nearly three times Montreal’s total. But its safety score, 56.4, is the weakest of all six cities, and that gap was enough to keep it behind Montreal, Quebec City, and Ottawa despite all that online chatter.
Vancouver, meanwhile, landed last among the six Canadian cities on the list. Just 7 tourism and information services were counted there, despite it being one of the country’s most visited destinations.
How Canada compares globally
Boston and New York were the only North American spots to crack the top 10. Singapore took the worldwide title, backed by a high safety score of 77.7 and a strong visa openness score of 164. London came in second, and Sydney rounded out the podium.
The global top 20
- Singapore — 81.83
- London — 65.04
- Sydney — 64.80
- The Hague — 63.68
- Hong Kong — 63.55
- Boston — 63.39
- New York City — 63.36
- Utrecht — 63.13
- Penang Island — 63.07
- Aarhus — 63.02
- Copenhagen — 62.92
- Edinburgh — 62.50
- Davao — 62.43
- Prague — 62.29
- Ottawa — 62.17
- Brno — 62.02
- Quebec City — 61.92
- Munich — 61.91
- Amsterdam — 61.89
- Montreal — 61.55
You can explore the entire Holafly report here.
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