VacationSelector
The Campanile, Trinity College, Dublin
DublinThe Campanile, Trinity College
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline

Photos: Dublin by David Kernan, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License.

Dublin 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 Dublin for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Rotterdam for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • day trips

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. Dublin and Rotterdam are level on 27.
Food & drink. Dublin 50, Rotterdam 52: Rotterdam leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Dublin 64, Rotterdam 58: Dublin leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Dublin 62, Rotterdam 52: Dublin leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Dublin 70, Rotterdam 44: Dublin leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Dublin 72, Rotterdam 85: Rotterdam leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Dublin 57, Rotterdam 66: Rotterdam leads by 9 points.
Getting around. Dublin 66, Rotterdam 78: Rotterdam leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Dublin 54, Rotterdam 55: Rotterdam leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Dublin 20, Rotterdam 38: Rotterdam leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Dublin 65, Rotterdam 58: Dublin leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Dublin 25, Rotterdam 42: Rotterdam leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Dublin 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

Dublin
53match

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

Rotterdam
55match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Dublin in July

20 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
62 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
15 °Csea
17 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°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
DublinRotterdam

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. Dublin: 1991-2020 normals, Dublin Airport (9.3 km from centre). Rotterdam: 1993-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Rotterdam Airport Zestienhoven (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDublinRotterdam
Official languageEnglish, IrishDutch
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation20 m10 m
Main airportDublin Airport (DUB)9 km from centre200 non-stop destinationsRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureDublinRotterdam
City population592,713664,311
People per km²5,1542,080
Museums within 10 km4040
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km15
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Dublin 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). 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.