VacationSelector
Palermo Cathedral, Palermo
PalermoPalermo Cathedral
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline

Photos: Palermo by Antonino Giangrasso, Pexels License; Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License.

Palermo 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 Palermo for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Rotterdam for

  • getting around
  • families
  • wellness

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. Palermo 77, Rotterdam 27: Palermo leads by 50 points.
Food & drink. Palermo 81, Rotterdam 52: Palermo leads by 29 points.
Culture & sights. Palermo 80, Rotterdam 58: Palermo leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Palermo 58, Rotterdam 52: Palermo leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Palermo 72, Rotterdam 44: Palermo leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Palermo 84, Rotterdam 85: Rotterdam leads by 1 points.
Good for families. Palermo 44, Rotterdam 66: Rotterdam leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Palermo 50, Rotterdam 78: Rotterdam leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Palermo 44, Rotterdam 55: Rotterdam leads by 11 points.
Affordability. Palermo 63, Rotterdam 38: Palermo leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Palermo 62, Rotterdam 58: Palermo leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Palermo 30, Rotterdam 42: Rotterdam leads by 12 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Palermo
Best match
62match

Wins on beaches and food and drink with your weighting.

Rotterdam
55match

Wins on getting around 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.

Palermo in July

29 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
2 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
26 °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

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
PalermoRotterdam

Where the figures come from

Palermo 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.

Palermo's sunshine is measured 67 km from the centre, at Ustica.

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. Palermo: 1991-2020 (sunshine 1961-1990) normals, Palermo / Punta Raisi (24.1 km from centre). Rotterdam: 1993-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Rotterdam Airport Zestienhoven (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePalermoRotterdam
Official languageItalianDutch
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCFL230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation14 m10 m
Main airportFalcone–Borsellino Airport (PMO)25 km from centre106 non-stop destinationsRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasurePalermoRotterdam
City population630,167664,311
People per km²3,9242,080
Museums within 10 km4240
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km15
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Palermo 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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. 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.