VacationSelector
The Colosseum, Rome
RomeThe Colosseum
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline

Photos: Rome by Tournasol7, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License.

Rome 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 Rome for

  • culture and sights
  • food and drink
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Rome’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. Rome 50, Rotterdam 27: Rome leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Rome 82, Rotterdam 52: Rome leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Rome 99, Rotterdam 58: Rome leads by 41 points.
Nightlife. Rome 58, Rotterdam 52: Rome leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rome 58, Rotterdam 44: Rome leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Rome 92, Rotterdam 85: Rome leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Rome 50, Rotterdam 66: Rotterdam leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Rome 60, Rotterdam 78: Rotterdam leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Rome 72, Rotterdam 55: Rome leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Rome and Rotterdam are level on 38.
Live music & performing arts. Rome 68, Rotterdam 58: Rome leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rome 40, Rotterdam 42: Rotterdam leads by 2 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Rome
Best match
64match

Wins on culture and sights 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.

Rome in July

31 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
21 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
RomeRotterdam

Where the figures come from

Rome's sunshine is measured 31 km from the centre, at Vigna Di Valle.

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. Rome: 1991-2020 normals, Roma / Ciampino (15.1 km from centre). Rotterdam: 1993-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Rotterdam Airport Zestienhoven (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRomeRotterdam
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
Elevation21 m10 m
Main airportRome–Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO)23 km from centre242 non-stop destinationsRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureRomeRotterdam
City population2,748,109664,311
People per km²2,1352,080
Museums within 10 km17840
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km75
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 Rome 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.