VacationSelector
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline
A cobbled street of painted houses in Old San Juan, San Juan
San JuanA cobbled street of painted houses in Old San Juan

Photos: Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License; San Juan by Mohan Nannapaneni, Pexels License.

Rotterdam or San Juan?

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

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • families

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

Choose San Juan for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on San Juan’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, San Juan 84: San Juan leads by 57 points.
Food & drink. Rotterdam 52, San Juan 66: San Juan leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Rotterdam 58, San Juan 64: San Juan leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Rotterdam 52, San Juan 70: San Juan leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rotterdam 44, San Juan 74: San Juan leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Rotterdam 85, San Juan 52: Rotterdam leads by 33 points.
Good for families. Rotterdam 66, San Juan 58: Rotterdam leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Rotterdam 78, San Juan 38: Rotterdam leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. Rotterdam 55, San Juan 50: Rotterdam leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Rotterdam and San Juan are level on 38.
Live music & performing arts. Rotterdam 58, San Juan 55: Rotterdam leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rotterdam 42, San Juan 40: Rotterdam leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Rotterdam and San Juan.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Rotterdam
55match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

San Juan
57match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors 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

San Juan in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
153 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
RotterdamSan Juan

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). San Juan: 1991-2020 normals, San Juan / Int., Puerto Rico (12.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRotterdamSan Juan
Official languageDutchSpanish, English
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-4
Emergency number112911
Elevation10 m3 m
Main airportRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinationsLuis Munoz Marin International Airport (SJU)12 km from centre59 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days21 days

By the numbers

MeasureRotterdamSan Juan
City population664,311342,259
People per km²2,0802,847
Museums within 10 km4018
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km51
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Rotterdam or San Juan 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.