VacationSelector
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline
Hanok houses in Bukchon, Seoul
SeoulHanok houses in Bukchon

Photos: Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License; Seoul by 거열 박, Pexels License.

Rotterdam or Seoul?

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

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

Choose Seoul for

  • wellness
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Seoul’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, Seoul 18: Rotterdam leads by 9 points.
Food & drink. Rotterdam 52, Seoul 84: Seoul leads by 32 points.
Culture & sights. Rotterdam 58, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 17 points.
Nightlife. Rotterdam 52, Seoul 84: Seoul leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rotterdam 44, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 31 points.
Day trips. Rotterdam 85, Seoul 77: Rotterdam leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Rotterdam 66, Seoul 80: Seoul leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Rotterdam 78, Seoul 87: Seoul leads by 9 points.
Shopping & style. Rotterdam 55, Seoul 85: Seoul leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Rotterdam 38, Seoul 50: Seoul leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rotterdam 58, Seoul 63: Seoul leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rotterdam 42, Seoul 75: Seoul leads by 33 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Rotterdam
55match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

Seoul
Best match
71match

Wins on wellness and food and drink 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

Seoul in July

29 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
422 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
RotterdamSeoul

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). Seoul: 1991-2020 normals, Seoul (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRotterdamSeoul
Official languageDutchKorean, Korean Sign Language
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Won (KRW)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number112Police 112, ambulance 119, fire 119
Elevation10 m38 m
Main airportRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinationsIncheon International Airport (ICN)49 km from centre162 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days18 days

By the numbers

MeasureRotterdamSeoul
City population664,3119,668,465
People per km²2,08015,973
Museums within 10 km4081
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km55
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Rotterdam or Seoul 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.