VacationSelector
The skyline and yachts on the canals, Fort Lauderdale
Fort LauderdaleThe skyline and yachts on the canals
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline

Photos: Fort Lauderdale by KeanoManu, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License.

Fort Lauderdale 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 Fort Lauderdale for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Rotterdam for

  • getting around
  • 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. Fort Lauderdale 88, Rotterdam 27: Fort Lauderdale leads by 61 points.
Food & drink. Fort Lauderdale 47, Rotterdam 52: Rotterdam leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Fort Lauderdale 28, Rotterdam 58: Rotterdam leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Fort Lauderdale and Rotterdam are level on 52.
Nature & outdoors. Fort Lauderdale 62, Rotterdam 44: Fort Lauderdale leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Fort Lauderdale 58, Rotterdam 85: Rotterdam leads by 27 points.
Good for families. Fort Lauderdale and Rotterdam are level on 66.
Getting around. Fort Lauderdale 32, Rotterdam 78: Rotterdam leads by 46 points.
Shopping & style. Fort Lauderdale 52, Rotterdam 55: Rotterdam leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Fort Lauderdale 32, Rotterdam 38: Rotterdam leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Fort Lauderdale 42, Rotterdam 58: Rotterdam leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Fort Lauderdale 40, Rotterdam 42: Rotterdam leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Fort Lauderdale and Rotterdam.

Your match

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

Fort Lauderdale
50match

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

Rotterdam
Best match
55match

Wins on getting around 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.

Fort Lauderdale in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
166 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Fort LauderdaleRotterdam

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. Fort Lauderdale: 1991-2020 normals, Fort Lauderdale (7.1 km from centre). Rotterdam: 1993-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Rotterdam Airport Zestienhoven (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFort LauderdaleRotterdam
Official language-Dutch
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation11 m10 m
Main airportFort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL)7 km from centre136 non-stop destinationsRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureFort LauderdaleRotterdam
City population182,760664,311
People per km²1,8292,080
Museums within 10 km640
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 Fort Lauderdale 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). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. 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.