VacationSelector
The old Bath House in the Government Gardens, Rotorua
RotoruaThe old Bath House in the Government Gardens
The Latin Bridge over the Miljacka, Sarajevo
SarajevoThe Latin Bridge over the Miljacka

Photos: Rotorua by W. Bulach, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Sarajevo by Tumi-1983, CC0.

Rotorua or Sarajevo?

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 Rotorua for

  • wellness
  • families
  • beaches

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

Choose Sarajevo for

  • prices
  • nightlife
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Sarajevo’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. Rotorua 33, Sarajevo 6: Rotorua leads by 27 points.
Food & drink. Rotorua 33, Sarajevo 60: Sarajevo leads by 27 points.
Culture & sights. Rotorua 38, Sarajevo 64: Sarajevo leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Rotorua 14, Sarajevo 44: Sarajevo leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rotorua 86, Sarajevo 78: Rotorua leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Rotorua 45, Sarajevo 62: Sarajevo leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Rotorua 68, Sarajevo 38: Rotorua leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Rotorua 30, Sarajevo 60: Sarajevo leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Rotorua 22, Sarajevo 40: Sarajevo leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Rotorua 36, Sarajevo 80: Sarajevo leads by 44 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rotorua 30, Sarajevo 40: Sarajevo leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rotorua 86, Sarajevo 42: Rotorua leads by 44 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Rotorua
43match

Wins on wellness and families with your weighting.

Sarajevo
Best match
51match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Rotorua in July

11 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
113 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Sarajevo in July

28 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
75 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
RotoruaSarajevo

Where the figures come from

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. Rotorua: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km. Sarajevo: 1991-2020 normals, Sarajevo-Bejelave (2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRotoruaSarajevo
Official languageEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, MāoriCroatian, Serbian, Bosnian
CurrencyNew Zealand Dollar (NZD)Convertible Mark (BAM)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+12, UTC+13 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number111112
Elevation280 m518 m
Main airportRotorua Regional Airport (ROT)7 km from centre3 non-stop destinationsSarajevo International Airport (SJJ)7 km from centre38 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days8 days

By the numbers

MeasureRotoruaSarajevo
City population58,500275,524
People per km²221,947
Museums within 10 km125
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Rotorua or Sarajevo 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. 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. Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. 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.