VacationSelector
Palms on Waikiki Beach, Honolulu
HonoluluPalms on Waikiki Beach
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline

Photos: Honolulu by Jess Loiterton, Pexels License; Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License.

Honolulu 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 Honolulu for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • food and drink

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

Choose Rotterdam for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • prices

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. Honolulu 91, Rotterdam 27: Honolulu leads by 64 points.
Food & drink. Honolulu 70, Rotterdam 52: Honolulu leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Honolulu 55, Rotterdam 58: Rotterdam leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Honolulu 45, Rotterdam 52: Rotterdam leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Honolulu 88, Rotterdam 44: Honolulu leads by 44 points.
Day trips. Honolulu 38, Rotterdam 85: Rotterdam leads by 47 points.
Good for families. Honolulu 80, Rotterdam 66: Honolulu leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Honolulu 52, Rotterdam 78: Rotterdam leads by 26 points.
Shopping & style. Honolulu 60, Rotterdam 55: Honolulu leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Honolulu 15, Rotterdam 38: Rotterdam leads by 23 points.
Live music & performing arts. Honolulu 40, Rotterdam 58: Rotterdam leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Honolulu 50, Rotterdam 42: Honolulu leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Honolulu 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

Honolulu
57match

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

Rotterdam
55match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Honolulu in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
26 °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

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
HonoluluRotterdam

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. Honolulu: 1991-2020 normals, Honolulu International Airport (10.1 km from centre). Rotterdam: 1993-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Rotterdam Airport Zestienhoven (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHonoluluRotterdam
Official language-Dutch
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-10UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation12 m10 m
Main airportDaniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)7 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureHonoluluRotterdam
City population350,964664,311
People per km²1,9812,080
Museums within 10 km1240
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 Honolulu 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.