VacationSelector
The Three Graces fountain, Place de la Bourse, Bordeaux
BordeauxThe Three Graces fountain, Place de la Bourse
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline

Photos: Bordeaux by Gzen92, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License.

Bordeaux 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 Bordeaux for

  • food and drink
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Rotterdam for

  • families
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

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. Bordeaux 50, Rotterdam 27: Bordeaux leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Bordeaux 78, Rotterdam 52: Bordeaux leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Bordeaux 68, Rotterdam 58: Bordeaux leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Bordeaux 50, Rotterdam 52: Rotterdam leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bordeaux 58, Rotterdam 44: Bordeaux leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Bordeaux 78, Rotterdam 85: Rotterdam leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Bordeaux 57, Rotterdam 66: Rotterdam leads by 9 points.
Getting around. Bordeaux 76, Rotterdam 78: Rotterdam leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Bordeaux 56, Rotterdam 55: Bordeaux leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Bordeaux 42, Rotterdam 38: Bordeaux leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bordeaux 55, Rotterdam 58: Rotterdam leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bordeaux 40, Rotterdam 42: Rotterdam leads by 2 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Bordeaux
Best match
59match

Wins on food and drink and beaches with your weighting.

Rotterdam
55match

Wins on families and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Bordeaux in July

27 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
47 mmrain in the month
8 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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
BordeauxRotterdam

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. Bordeaux: 1991-2020 normals, Bordeaux / Merignac (9.5 km from centre). Rotterdam: 1993-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Rotterdam Airport Zestienhoven (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBordeauxRotterdam
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
Elevation1 m10 m
Main airportBordeaux–Mérignac Airport (BOD)11 km from centre95 non-stop destinationsRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureBordeauxRotterdam
City population267,991664,311
People per km²5,4252,080
Museums within 10 km1840
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km45
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 Bordeaux 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.