VacationSelector
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline

Photos: Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License.

Lima 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 Lima for

  • food and drink
  • prices
  • beaches

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

Choose Rotterdam for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • 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. Lima 42, Rotterdam 27: Lima leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Lima 88, Rotterdam 52: Lima leads by 36 points.
Culture & sights. Lima 66, Rotterdam 58: Lima leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Lima 62, Rotterdam 52: Lima leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lima 45, Rotterdam 44: Lima leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Lima 34, Rotterdam 85: Rotterdam leads by 51 points.
Good for families. Lima 42, Rotterdam 66: Rotterdam leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Lima 35, Rotterdam 78: Rotterdam leads by 43 points.
Shopping & style. Lima 52, Rotterdam 55: Rotterdam leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Lima 70, Rotterdam 38: Lima leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lima 53, Rotterdam 58: Rotterdam leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lima 25, Rotterdam 42: Rotterdam leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lima and Rotterdam.

Your match

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

Lima
51match

Wins on food and drink and prices with your weighting.

Rotterdam
Best match
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.

Lima in July

19 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
1 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
12 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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
LimaRotterdam

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. Lima: 1991-2020 normals, Lima-Callao / Aerop. Internacional Jorgechavez (10.9 km from centre). Rotterdam: 1993-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Rotterdam Airport Zestienhoven (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLimaRotterdam
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaDutch
CurrencySol (PEN)Euro (EUR)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number111 or 911112
Elevation154 m10 m
Main airportJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinationsRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureLimaRotterdam
City population9,943,800664,311
People per km²3,7212,080
Museums within 10 km4740
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km25
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Lima 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). 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. 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.