VacationSelector
Sugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay, Rio de Janeiro
Rio de JaneiroSugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay
The old Bath House in the Government Gardens, Rotorua
RotoruaThe old Bath House in the Government Gardens

Photos: Rio de Janeiro by Arne Müseler, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, cropped; Rotorua by W. Bulach, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Rio de Janeiro or Rotorua?

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 Rio de Janeiro for

  • nightlife
  • beaches
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Rio de Janeiro’s own page.

Choose Rotorua for

  • wellness
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Rotorua’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. Rio de Janeiro 92, Rotorua 33: Rio de Janeiro leads by 59 points.
Food & drink. Rio de Janeiro 62, Rotorua 33: Rio de Janeiro leads by 29 points.
Culture & sights. Rio de Janeiro 68, Rotorua 38: Rio de Janeiro leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Rio de Janeiro 80, Rotorua 14: Rio de Janeiro leads by 66 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rio de Janeiro 90, Rotorua 86: Rio de Janeiro leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Rio de Janeiro 50, Rotorua 45: Rio de Janeiro leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Rio de Janeiro 50, Rotorua 68: Rotorua leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Rio de Janeiro 44, Rotorua 30: Rio de Janeiro leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Rio de Janeiro 50, Rotorua 22: Rio de Janeiro leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Rio de Janeiro 60, Rotorua 36: Rio de Janeiro leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rio de Janeiro 66, Rotorua 30: Rio de Janeiro leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rio de Janeiro 30, Rotorua 86: Rotorua leads by 56 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Rio de Janeiro and Rotorua.

Your match

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

Rio de Janeiro
Best match
62match

Wins on nightlife and beaches with your weighting.

Rotorua
43match

Wins on wellness 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.

Rio de Janeiro in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
45 mmrain in the month
22 °Csea
11 hdaylight a day

Rotorua in July

11 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
113 mmrain in the month
15 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Rio de JaneiroRotorua

Where the figures come from

Rio de Janeiro has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Rotorua has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Rio de Janeiro: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Rotorua: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureRio de JaneiroRotorua
Official languagePortugueseEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyBrazilian Real (BRL)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsCN60 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-3UTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 190, ambulance 192, fire 193111
Elevation31 m280 m
Main airportRio de Janeiro Galeão – Tom Jobim International Airport (GIG)12 km from centre54 non-stop destinationsRotorua Regional Airport (ROT)7 km from centre3 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureRio de JaneiroRotorua
City population6,211,22358,500
People per km²4,93022
Museums within 10 km691
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km30
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 Rio de Janeiro or Rotorua somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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). 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.