VacationSelector
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline
The Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower, Shanghai
ShanghaiThe Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower

Photos: Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License; Shanghai by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Rotterdam or Shanghai?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

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

Choose Shanghai for

  • food and drink
  • nightlife
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Shanghai’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, Shanghai 10: Rotterdam leads by 17 points.
Food & drink. Rotterdam 52, Shanghai 88: Shanghai leads by 36 points.
Culture & sights. Rotterdam 58, Shanghai 72: Shanghai leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Rotterdam 52, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rotterdam 44, Shanghai 25: Rotterdam leads by 19 points.
Day trips. Rotterdam 85, Shanghai 90: Shanghai leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Rotterdam 66, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Rotterdam 78, Shanghai 85: Shanghai leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Rotterdam 55, Shanghai 82: Shanghai leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Rotterdam 38, Shanghai 55: Shanghai leads by 17 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rotterdam 58, Shanghai 66: Shanghai leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rotterdam 42, Shanghai 55: Shanghai leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Rotterdam and Shanghai.

Your match

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

Rotterdam
55match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches with your weighting.

Shanghai
Best match
66match

Wins on food and drink and nightlife 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

Shanghai in July

33 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
151 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
RotterdamShanghai

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). Shanghai: 1991-2020 normals, Shanghai / Hongqiao (8.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRotterdamShanghai
Official languageDutchPutonghua
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation10 m4 m
Main airportRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinationsShanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)33 km from centre207 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureRotterdamShanghai
City population664,31124,870,895
People per km²2,0803,922
Museums within 10 km4045
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone5 months

Where else could you go?

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