VacationSelector
The towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light, Panama City
Panama CityThe towers of Panama City reflected in the bay in golden light
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline

Photos: Panama City by Ayaita, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License.

Panama 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 Panama City for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • prices

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

Choose Rotterdam for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

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. Panama City 44, Rotterdam 27: Panama City leads by 17 points.
Food & drink. Panama City 57, Rotterdam 52: Panama City leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Panama City 62, Rotterdam 58: Panama City leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Panama City 62, Rotterdam 52: Panama City leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Panama City 74, Rotterdam 44: Panama City leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Panama City 50, Rotterdam 85: Rotterdam leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Panama City 45, Rotterdam 66: Rotterdam leads by 21 points.
Getting around. Panama City 40, Rotterdam 78: Rotterdam leads by 38 points.
Shopping & style. Panama City 52, Rotterdam 55: Rotterdam leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Panama City 55, Rotterdam 38: Panama City leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Panama City 34, Rotterdam 58: Rotterdam leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Panama City 22, Rotterdam 42: Rotterdam leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Panama City and Rotterdam.

Your match

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

Panama City
50match

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

Rotterdam
Best match
55match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Panama City in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
161 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
Panama CityRotterdam

Where the figures come from

Panama City 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. Panama City: 1991-2020 normals, Tocumen (20.4 km from centre). Rotterdam: 1993-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Rotterdam Airport Zestienhoven (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePanama CityRotterdam
Official languageSpanishDutch
CurrencyBalboa (PAB)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation20 m10 m
Main airportTocumen International Airport (PTY)20 km from centre92 non-stop destinationsRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasurePanama CityRotterdam
City population1,540,000664,311
People per km²5,6002,080
Museums within 10 km1040
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km25
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Panama 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.