VacationSelector
A canal bridge in autumn, Amsterdam
AmsterdamA canal bridge in autumn
The old Bath House in the Government Gardens, Rotorua
RotoruaThe old Bath House in the Government Gardens

Photos: Amsterdam by Hans, Pexels License; Rotorua by W. Bulach, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Amsterdam or Rotorua?

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 Amsterdam for

  • nightlife
  • getting around
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Rotorua for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Rotorua’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. Amsterdam 25, Rotorua 33: Rotorua leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Amsterdam 58, Rotorua 33: Amsterdam leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Amsterdam 82, Rotorua 38: Amsterdam leads by 44 points.
Nightlife. Amsterdam 77, Rotorua 14: Amsterdam leads by 63 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amsterdam 47, Rotorua 86: Rotorua leads by 39 points.
Day trips. Amsterdam 87, Rotorua 45: Amsterdam leads by 42 points.
Good for families. Amsterdam 72, Rotorua 68: Amsterdam leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Amsterdam 86, Rotorua 30: Amsterdam leads by 56 points.
Shopping & style. Amsterdam 68, Rotorua 22: Amsterdam leads by 46 points.
Affordability. Amsterdam 22, Rotorua 36: Rotorua leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amsterdam 78, Rotorua 30: Amsterdam leads by 48 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amsterdam 42, Rotorua 86: Rotorua leads by 44 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amsterdam and Rotorua.

Your match

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

Amsterdam
Best match
62match

Wins on nightlife and getting around with your weighting.

Rotorua
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.

Amsterdam in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
84 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Rotorua in July

11 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
113 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AmsterdamRotorua

Where the figures come from

Amsterdam 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.

Amsterdam's sunshine is measured 35 km from the centre, at De Bilt.

Rotorua has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Amsterdam: 1991-2020 normals, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (12 km from centre). Rotorua: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureAmsterdamRotorua
Official languageDutchEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyEuro (EUR)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number112111
Elevation-2 m280 m
Main airportAmsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)12 km from centre287 non-stop destinationsRotorua Regional Airport (ROT)7 km from centre3 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureAmsterdamRotorua
City population921,46858,500
People per km²4,20822
Museums within 10 km1011
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Amsterdam or Rotorua 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). 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.