VacationSelector
Château Frontenac from Dufferin Terrace, Quebec City
Quebec CityChâteau Frontenac from Dufferin Terrace
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline

Photos: Quebec City by Jeangagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License.

Quebec 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 Quebec City for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Rotterdam for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • 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. Quebec City 18, Rotterdam 27: Rotterdam leads by 9 points.
Food & drink. Quebec City 57, Rotterdam 52: Quebec City leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Quebec City 70, Rotterdam 58: Quebec City leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Quebec City 42, Rotterdam 52: Rotterdam leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Quebec City 79, Rotterdam 44: Quebec City leads by 35 points.
Day trips. Quebec City 58, Rotterdam 85: Rotterdam leads by 27 points.
Good for families. Quebec City 64, Rotterdam 66: Rotterdam leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Quebec City 50, Rotterdam 78: Rotterdam leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Quebec City 45, Rotterdam 55: Rotterdam leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Quebec City 45, Rotterdam 38: Quebec City leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Quebec City 52, Rotterdam 58: Rotterdam leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Quebec City 55, Rotterdam 42: Quebec City leads by 13 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Quebec City
53match

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

Rotterdam
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.

Quebec City in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
119 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
16 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

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
Quebec 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. Quebec City: 1991-2020 normals, Beauport (3.2 km from centre). Rotterdam: 1993-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Rotterdam Airport Zestienhoven (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureQuebec CityRotterdam
Official languageFrench, EnglishDutch
CurrencyCanadian Dollar (CAD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation98 m10 m
Main airportQuebec Jean Lesage International Airport (YQB)13 km from centre34 non-stop destinationsRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureQuebec CityRotterdam
City population574,482664,311
People per km²1,1842,080
Museums within 10 km1640
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km15
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 Quebec 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.