VacationSelector
Sugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay, Rio de Janeiro
Rio de JaneiroSugarloaf Mountain above the boats in Botafogo Bay
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline

Photos: Rio de Janeiro by Arne Müseler, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, cropped; Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License.

Rio de Janeiro 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 Rio de Janeiro for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

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

Choose Rotterdam for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • families

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. Rio de Janeiro 92, Rotterdam 27: Rio de Janeiro leads by 65 points.
Food & drink. Rio de Janeiro 62, Rotterdam 52: Rio de Janeiro leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Rio de Janeiro 68, Rotterdam 58: Rio de Janeiro leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Rio de Janeiro 80, Rotterdam 52: Rio de Janeiro leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rio de Janeiro 90, Rotterdam 44: Rio de Janeiro leads by 46 points.
Day trips. Rio de Janeiro 50, Rotterdam 85: Rotterdam leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Rio de Janeiro 50, Rotterdam 66: Rotterdam leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Rio de Janeiro 44, Rotterdam 78: Rotterdam leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Rio de Janeiro 50, Rotterdam 55: Rotterdam leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Rio de Janeiro 60, Rotterdam 38: Rio de Janeiro leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rio de Janeiro 66, Rotterdam 58: Rio de Janeiro leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rio de Janeiro 30, Rotterdam 42: Rotterdam leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Rio de Janeiro and Rotterdam.

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 beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Rotterdam
55match

Wins on day trips and getting around 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
No recordsunshine a day
22 °Csea
11 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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Rio de JaneiroRotterdam

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.

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. Rio de Janeiro: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Rotterdam: 1993-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Rotterdam Airport Zestienhoven (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRio de JaneiroRotterdam
Official languagePortugueseDutch
CurrencyBrazilian Real (BRL)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCN60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 190, ambulance 192, fire 193112
Elevation31 m10 m
Main airportRio de Janeiro Galeão – Tom Jobim International Airport (GIG)12 km from centre54 non-stop destinationsRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureRio de JaneiroRotterdam
City population6,211,223664,311
People per km²4,9302,080
Museums within 10 km6940
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km35
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 Rotterdam 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. 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.