VacationSelector
The Casino de Monte-Carlo, Monaco
MonacoThe Casino de Monte-Carlo
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline

Photos: Monaco by otterboris, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License.

Monaco 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 Monaco for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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

Choose Rotterdam for

  • prices
  • families
  • 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. Monaco 68, Rotterdam 27: Monaco leads by 41 points.
Food & drink. Monaco 57, Rotterdam 52: Monaco leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Monaco 55, Rotterdam 58: Rotterdam leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Monaco 48, Rotterdam 52: Rotterdam leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Monaco 70, Rotterdam 44: Monaco leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Monaco 84, Rotterdam 85: Rotterdam leads by 1 points.
Good for families. Monaco 60, Rotterdam 66: Rotterdam leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Monaco and Rotterdam are level on 78.
Shopping & style. Monaco 52, Rotterdam 55: Rotterdam leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Monaco 3, Rotterdam 38: Rotterdam leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Monaco 63, Rotterdam 58: Monaco leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Monaco 55, Rotterdam 42: Monaco leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Monaco and Rotterdam.

Your match

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

Monaco
Best match
58match

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

Rotterdam
55match

Wins on prices and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Monaco in July

28 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
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°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
MonacoRotterdam

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. Monaco: 1991-2020 normals, Nice (19.9 km from centre). Rotterdam: 1993-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Rotterdam Airport Zestienhoven (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMonacoRotterdam
Official languageFrenchDutch
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCEF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation68 m10 m
Main airportNice-Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE)18 km from centre130 non-stop destinationsRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureMonacoRotterdam
City population38,857664,311
People per km²18,5032,080
Museums within 10 km1440
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km25
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Monaco or Rotterdam somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national 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). 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. Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), 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.