VacationSelector
The City Hall of Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh CityThe City Hall of Ho Chi Minh City
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline

Photos: Ho Chi Minh City by trungydang, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License.

Ho Chi Minh City 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 Ho Chi Minh City for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Ho Chi Minh City’s own page.

Choose Rotterdam for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • families

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. Ho Chi Minh City 18, Rotterdam 27: Rotterdam leads by 9 points.
Food & drink. Ho Chi Minh City 86, Rotterdam 52: Ho Chi Minh City leads by 34 points.
Culture & sights. Ho Chi Minh City 55, Rotterdam 58: Rotterdam leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Ho Chi Minh City 70, Rotterdam 52: Ho Chi Minh City leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Ho Chi Minh City 28, Rotterdam 44: Rotterdam leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Ho Chi Minh City 58, Rotterdam 85: Rotterdam leads by 27 points.
Good for families. Ho Chi Minh City 40, Rotterdam 66: Rotterdam leads by 26 points.
Getting around. Ho Chi Minh City 38, Rotterdam 78: Rotterdam leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. Ho Chi Minh City and Rotterdam are level on 55.
Affordability. Ho Chi Minh City 92, Rotterdam 38: Ho Chi Minh City leads by 54 points.
Live music & performing arts. Ho Chi Minh City 40, Rotterdam 58: Rotterdam leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Ho Chi Minh City 60, Rotterdam 42: Ho Chi Minh City leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Ho Chi Minh City 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

Ho Chi Minh City
53match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Rotterdam
55match

Wins on getting around 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.

Ho Chi Minh City in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
285 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
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

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Ho Chi Minh CityRotterdam

Where the figures come from

Ho Chi Minh City 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 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. Ho Chi Minh City: 1991-2020 normals, Ho Chi Minh (6 km from centre). Rotterdam: 1993-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Rotterdam Airport Zestienhoven (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHo Chi Minh CityRotterdam
Official languageVietnameseDutch
CurrencyDong (VND)Euro (EUR)
SocketsACFG220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 113, ambulance 115, fire 114112
Elevation13 m10 m
Main airportTan Son Nhat International Airport (SGN)7 km from centre90 non-stop destinationsRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureHo Chi Minh CityRotterdam
City population14,002,598664,311
People per km²2,0682,080
Museums within 10 km940
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 Ho Chi Minh City 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). 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.