VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo, Mexico City
Mexico CityThe Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zócalo
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline

Photos: Mexico City by Oscar Dominguez, Pexels License; Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License.

Mexico 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 Mexico City for

  • food and drink
  • prices
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Mexico City’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. Mexico City 5, Rotterdam 27: Rotterdam leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Mexico City 90, Rotterdam 52: Mexico City leads by 38 points.
Culture & sights. Mexico City 88, Rotterdam 58: Mexico City leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Mexico City 80, Rotterdam 52: Mexico City leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Mexico City 50, Rotterdam 44: Mexico City leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Mexico City 75, Rotterdam 85: Rotterdam leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Mexico City 58, Rotterdam 66: Rotterdam leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Mexico City 50, Rotterdam 78: Rotterdam leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Mexico City 76, Rotterdam 55: Mexico City leads by 21 points.
Affordability. Mexico City 75, Rotterdam 38: Mexico City leads by 37 points.
Live music & performing arts. Mexico City 72, Rotterdam 58: Mexico City leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Mexico City 40, Rotterdam 42: Rotterdam leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Mexico City and Rotterdam.

Your match

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

Mexico City
Best match
63match

Wins on food and drink and prices 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.

Mexico City in July

25 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
176 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine 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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
Mexico CityRotterdam

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. Mexico City: 1991-2020 normals, Mexico Central, D. F. (7.9 km from centre). Rotterdam: 1993-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Rotterdam Airport Zestienhoven (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMexico CityRotterdam
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
Elevation2,240 m10 m
Main airportMexico City Benito Juárez International Airport (MEX)7 km from centre109 non-stop destinationsRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year9 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureMexico CityRotterdam
City population9,209,944664,311
People per km²6,2022,080
Museums within 10 km10840
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km65
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 Mexico 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. 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.