VacationSelector
Wat Pho, Bangkok
BangkokWat Pho
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline

Photos: Bangkok by Lu Zhao, Pexels License; Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License.

Bangkok 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 Bangkok for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

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

Choose Rotterdam for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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. Bangkok 12, Rotterdam 27: Rotterdam leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Bangkok 95, Rotterdam 52: Bangkok leads by 43 points.
Culture & sights. Bangkok 80, Rotterdam 58: Bangkok leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Bangkok 85, Rotterdam 52: Bangkok leads by 33 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bangkok 25, Rotterdam 44: Rotterdam leads by 19 points.
Day trips. Bangkok 72, Rotterdam 85: Rotterdam leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Bangkok 50, Rotterdam 66: Rotterdam leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Bangkok 50, Rotterdam 78: Rotterdam leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Bangkok 80, Rotterdam 55: Bangkok leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Bangkok 85, Rotterdam 38: Bangkok leads by 47 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bangkok 52, Rotterdam 58: Rotterdam leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bangkok 75, Rotterdam 42: Bangkok leads by 33 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bangkok and Rotterdam.

Your match

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

Bangkok
Best match
63match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Rotterdam
55match

Wins on getting around 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.

Bangkok in July

34 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
184 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 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

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
BangkokRotterdam

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. Bangkok: 1991-2020 normals, Bangkok (5.7 km from centre). Rotterdam: 1993-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Rotterdam Airport Zestienhoven (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBangkokRotterdam
Official languageThaiDutch
CurrencyBaht (THB)Euro (EUR)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199112
Elevation2 m10 m
Main airportSuvarnabhumi Airport (BKK)26 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureBangkokRotterdam
City population5,676,648664,311
People per km²3,6192,080
Museums within 10 km5940
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km05
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bangkok 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). 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.