VacationSelector
The Adelaide skyline and the footbridge over the River Torrens, Adelaide
AdelaideThe Adelaide skyline and the footbridge over the River Torrens
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline

Photos: Adelaide by Ardash Muradian, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License.

Adelaide or Rotterdam?

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 Adelaide for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • food and drink

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

Choose Rotterdam for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Rotterdam’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. Adelaide 68, Rotterdam 27: Adelaide leads by 41 points.
Food & drink. Adelaide 72, Rotterdam 52: Adelaide leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Adelaide 48, Rotterdam 58: Rotterdam leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Adelaide 42, Rotterdam 52: Rotterdam leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Adelaide 66, Rotterdam 44: Adelaide leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Adelaide 60, Rotterdam 85: Rotterdam leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Adelaide 70, Rotterdam 66: Adelaide leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Adelaide 57, Rotterdam 78: Rotterdam leads by 21 points.
Shopping & style. Adelaide 44, Rotterdam 55: Rotterdam leads by 11 points.
Affordability. Adelaide 40, Rotterdam 38: Adelaide leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Adelaide 63, Rotterdam 58: Adelaide leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Adelaide and Rotterdam are level on 42.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Adelaide and Rotterdam.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Adelaide
56match

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

Rotterdam
55match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Adelaide in July

16 °Cdaytime high
8 °Cnight-time low
72 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
14 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Rotterdam in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
91 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
AdelaideRotterdam

Where the figures come from

Rotterdam 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.

Rotterdam's sunshine is measured 52 km from the centre, at De Bilt.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Adelaide: 1991-2020 normals, Adelaide (West Terrace / ngayirdapira) (3.1 km from centre). Rotterdam: 1993-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Rotterdam Airport Zestienhoven (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAdelaideRotterdam
Official languageEnglishDutch
CurrencyAustralian Dollar (AUD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9:30, UTC+10:30 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number000112
Elevation1 m10 m
Main airportAdelaide International Airport (ADL)6 km from centre35 non-stop destinationsRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAdelaideRotterdam
City population1,387,290664,311
People per km²1,0712,080
Museums within 10 km1340
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km05
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Adelaide or Rotterdam 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). 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.