VacationSelector
The twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas, Guadalajara
GuadalajaraThe twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline

Photos: Guadalajara by Ponchomx, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License.

Guadalajara 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 Guadalajara for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

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

Choose Rotterdam for

  • getting around
  • beaches
  • 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. Guadalajara 5, Rotterdam 27: Rotterdam leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Guadalajara 75, Rotterdam 52: Guadalajara leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Guadalajara 62, Rotterdam 58: Guadalajara leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Guadalajara 68, Rotterdam 52: Guadalajara leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Guadalajara 55, Rotterdam 44: Guadalajara leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Guadalajara 66, Rotterdam 85: Rotterdam leads by 19 points.
Good for families. Guadalajara 55, Rotterdam 66: Rotterdam leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Guadalajara 40, Rotterdam 78: Rotterdam leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Guadalajara 60, Rotterdam 55: Guadalajara leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Guadalajara 78, Rotterdam 38: Guadalajara leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Guadalajara 60, Rotterdam 58: Guadalajara leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Guadalajara 35, Rotterdam 42: Rotterdam leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Guadalajara and Rotterdam.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Guadalajara
55match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Rotterdam
55match

Wins on getting around and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Guadalajara in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
205 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
GuadalajaraRotterdam

Where the figures come from

Guadalajara has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

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. Guadalajara: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Rotterdam: 1993-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Rotterdam Airport Zestienhoven (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGuadalajaraRotterdam
Official languageSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec MayaDutch
CurrencyMexican Peso (MXN)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB127 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation1,536 m10 m
Main airportGuadalajara International Airport (GDL)17 km from centre70 non-stop destinationsRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureGuadalajaraRotterdam
City population1,385,621664,311
People per km²9,5562,080
Museums within 10 km1740
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km25
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 Guadalajara or Rotterdam somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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). 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. Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.