VacationSelector
The Aare at Unterseen, Interlaken, Interlaken
InterlakenThe Aare at Unterseen, Interlaken
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline

Photos: Interlaken by Roy Egloff, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License.

Interlaken 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 Interlaken for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • beaches

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

Choose Rotterdam for

  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

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. Interlaken 30, Rotterdam 27: Interlaken leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Interlaken 25, Rotterdam 52: Rotterdam leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Interlaken 8, Rotterdam 58: Rotterdam leads by 50 points.
Nightlife. Interlaken 15, Rotterdam 52: Rotterdam leads by 37 points.
Nature & outdoors. Interlaken 97, Rotterdam 44: Interlaken leads by 53 points.
Day trips. Interlaken 78, Rotterdam 85: Rotterdam leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Interlaken 72, Rotterdam 66: Interlaken leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Interlaken 80, Rotterdam 78: Interlaken leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Interlaken 22, Rotterdam 55: Rotterdam leads by 33 points.
Affordability. Interlaken 8, Rotterdam 38: Rotterdam leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Interlaken 15, Rotterdam 58: Rotterdam leads by 43 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Interlaken 40, Rotterdam 42: Rotterdam leads by 2 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Interlaken
41match

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

Rotterdam
Best match
55match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Interlaken in July

24 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
15 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°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
InterlakenRotterdam

Where the figures come from

Interlaken 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. Interlaken: 2005-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Meiringen / Unterbach (19.3 km from centre). Rotterdam: 1993-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Rotterdam Airport Zestienhoven (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureInterlakenRotterdam
Official languageFrench, German, Italian, RomanshDutch
CurrencySwiss Franc (CHF)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCJ230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation571 m10 m
Main airportZürich Airport (ZRH)100 km from centre226 non-stop destinationsRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureInterlakenRotterdam
City population6,123664,311
People per km²1,4242,080
Museums within 10 km340
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 Interlaken 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.