VacationSelector
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline
The terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía, Santiago
SantiagoThe terrace on Cerro Santa Lucía

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

Rotterdam or Santiago?

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

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • getting around

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

Choose Santiago for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Santiago’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 12: Rotterdam leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Rotterdam 52, Santiago 60: Santiago leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Rotterdam 58, Santiago 52: Rotterdam leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Rotterdam 52, Santiago 60: Santiago leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rotterdam 44, Santiago 83: Santiago leads by 39 points.
Day trips. Rotterdam 85, Santiago 70: Rotterdam leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Rotterdam 66, Santiago 57: Rotterdam leads by 9 points.
Getting around. Rotterdam 78, Santiago 68: Rotterdam leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Rotterdam 55, Santiago 52: Rotterdam leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Rotterdam 38, Santiago 58: Santiago leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rotterdam 58, Santiago 55: Rotterdam leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rotterdam 42, Santiago 37: Rotterdam leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Rotterdam and Santiago.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Rotterdam
55match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

Santiago
55match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and prices 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 in July

14 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
52 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
RotterdamSantiago

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: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago Q. Normal (3.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRotterdamSantiago
Official languageDutchSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Chilean Peso (CLP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCL220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-4, UTC-3 in summer
Emergency number112Police 133/134, ambulance 131, fire 132
Elevation10 m575 m
Main airportRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinationsComodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL)14 km from centre67 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureRotterdamSantiago
City population664,3116,257,516
People per km²2,0807,468
Museums within 10 km4054
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 Santiago 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.