VacationSelector
A jetty on the lagoon, Faro
FaroA jetty on the lagoon
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline

Photos: Faro by Efrem Efre, Pexels License; Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License.

Faro 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 Faro for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Rotterdam for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • 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. Faro 74, Rotterdam 27: Faro leads by 47 points.
Food & drink. Faro 48, Rotterdam 52: Rotterdam leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Faro 35, Rotterdam 58: Rotterdam leads by 23 points.
Nightlife. Faro 32, Rotterdam 52: Rotterdam leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Faro 62, Rotterdam 44: Faro leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Faro 64, Rotterdam 85: Rotterdam leads by 21 points.
Good for families. Faro 60, Rotterdam 66: Rotterdam leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Faro 60, Rotterdam 78: Rotterdam leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Faro 35, Rotterdam 55: Rotterdam leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Faro 60, Rotterdam 38: Faro leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Faro 30, Rotterdam 58: Rotterdam leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Faro 33, Rotterdam 42: Rotterdam leads by 9 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Faro
49match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Rotterdam
Best match
55match

Wins on live music and the arts and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Faro in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
14 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
FaroRotterdam

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. Faro: 1991-2020 normals, Faro / Aeroporto (2.8 km from centre). Rotterdam: 1993-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Rotterdam Airport Zestienhoven (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFaroRotterdam
Official languagePortugueseDutch
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation10 m10 m
Main airportFaro - Gago Coutinho International Airport (FAO)3 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureFaroRotterdam
City population64,560664,311
People per km²3192,080
Museums within 10 km240
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km05
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Faro 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.