VacationSelector
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline
The Assembly Hall on Temple Square, Salt Lake City
Salt Lake CityThe Assembly Hall on Temple Square

Photos: Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License; Salt Lake City by hakkun, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Rotterdam or Salt Lake City?

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 Rotterdam for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • nightlife

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

Choose Salt Lake City for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Salt Lake City’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. Rotterdam 27, Salt Lake City 12: Rotterdam leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Rotterdam 52, Salt Lake City 40: Rotterdam leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Rotterdam 58, Salt Lake City 42: Rotterdam leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Rotterdam 52, Salt Lake City 30: Rotterdam leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rotterdam 44, Salt Lake City 90: Salt Lake City leads by 46 points.
Day trips. Rotterdam 85, Salt Lake City 34: Rotterdam leads by 51 points.
Good for families. Rotterdam 66, Salt Lake City 72: Salt Lake City leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Rotterdam 78, Salt Lake City 42: Rotterdam leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Rotterdam 55, Salt Lake City 36: Rotterdam leads by 19 points.
Affordability. Rotterdam 38, Salt Lake City 40: Salt Lake City leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rotterdam 58, Salt Lake City 55: Rotterdam leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rotterdam 42, Salt Lake City 38: Rotterdam leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Rotterdam and Salt Lake City.

Your match

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

Rotterdam
Best match
55match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

Salt Lake City
44match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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.

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

Salt Lake City in July

34 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
RotterdamSalt Lake City

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. Rotterdam: 1993-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Rotterdam Airport Zestienhoven (3.9 km from centre). Salt Lake City: 1991-2020 normals, Salt Lake City International Airport (7.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRotterdamSalt Lake City
Official languageDutch-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-7, UTC-6 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation10 m1,288 m
Main airportRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinationsSalt Lake City International Airport (SLC)9 km from centre108 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureRotterdamSalt Lake City
City population664,311199,723
People per km²2,080690
Museums within 10 km4012
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Rotterdam or Salt Lake City 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.