VacationSelector
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline
The cathedral above the old town, Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de CompostelaThe cathedral above the old town

Photos: Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License; Santiago de Compostela by Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez (Lmbuga), CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Rotterdam or Santiago de Compostela?

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

  • families
  • shopping
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Santiago de Compostela for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Santiago de Compostela’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, Santiago de Compostela 32: Santiago de Compostela leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Rotterdam 52, Santiago de Compostela 68: Santiago de Compostela leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Rotterdam 58, Santiago de Compostela 70: Santiago de Compostela leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Rotterdam 52, Santiago de Compostela 45: Rotterdam leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rotterdam 44, Santiago de Compostela 62: Santiago de Compostela leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Rotterdam 85, Santiago de Compostela 72: Rotterdam leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Rotterdam 66, Santiago de Compostela 42: Rotterdam leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Rotterdam 78, Santiago de Compostela 70: Rotterdam leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Rotterdam 55, Santiago de Compostela 35: Rotterdam leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Rotterdam 38, Santiago de Compostela 64: Santiago de Compostela leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rotterdam 58, Santiago de Compostela 40: Rotterdam leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rotterdam and Santiago de Compostela are level on 42.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Rotterdam and Santiago de Compostela.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Rotterdam
55match

Wins on families and shopping with your weighting.

Santiago de Compostela
54match

Wins on prices 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

Santiago de Compostela in July

25 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
41 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
RotterdamSantiago de Compostela

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). Santiago de Compostela: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago / Labacolla (8.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRotterdamSantiago de Compostela
Official languageDutchSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation10 m260 m
Main airportRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinationsSantiago-Rosalía de Castro Airport (SCQ)10 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureRotterdamSantiago de Compostela
City population664,311100,965
People per km²2,080459
Museums within 10 km406
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km52
Swim season, months above 21 °CNoneNone

Where else could you go?

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