VacationSelector
The Palais des Papes and the cathedral, Avignon
AvignonThe Palais des Papes and the cathedral
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline

Photos: Avignon by BlueBreezeWiki, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License.

Avignon 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 Avignon for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Rotterdam for

  • nightlife
  • families
  • 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. Avignon 22, Rotterdam 27: Rotterdam leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Avignon 57, Rotterdam 52: Avignon leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Avignon 69, Rotterdam 58: Avignon leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Avignon 30, Rotterdam 52: Rotterdam leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Avignon 70, Rotterdam 44: Avignon leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Avignon 92, Rotterdam 85: Avignon leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Avignon 45, Rotterdam 66: Rotterdam leads by 21 points.
Getting around. Avignon 62, Rotterdam 78: Rotterdam leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Avignon 38, Rotterdam 55: Rotterdam leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Avignon 44, Rotterdam 38: Avignon leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Avignon 68, Rotterdam 58: Avignon leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Avignon 35, Rotterdam 42: Rotterdam leads by 7 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Avignon
53match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and culture and sights with your weighting.

Rotterdam
55match

Wins on nightlife and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Avignon in July

32 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
24 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AvignonRotterdam

Where the figures come from

Avignon 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.

Avignon's sunshine is measured 65 km from the centre, at Marseille / Marignane.

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. Avignon: 2005-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Avignon / Morières-lès-Avignon (8.6 km from centre). Rotterdam: 1993-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Rotterdam Airport Zestienhoven (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAvignonRotterdam
Official languageFrenchDutch
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation10 m10 m
Main airportMarseille Provence Airport (MRS)65 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAvignonRotterdam
City population92,188664,311
People per km²1,4202,080
Museums within 10 km1140
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km65
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Avignon 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. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.