VacationSelector
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline
Stortorget in Gamla stan, Stockholm
StockholmStortorget in Gamla stan

Photos: Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License; Stockholm by Jorge Franganillo, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Rotterdam or Stockholm?

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

  • day trips
  • prices

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

Choose Stockholm for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Stockholm’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, Stockholm 40: Stockholm leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. Rotterdam 52, Stockholm 64: Stockholm leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Rotterdam 58, Stockholm 77: Stockholm leads by 19 points.
Nightlife. Rotterdam 52, Stockholm 57: Stockholm leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rotterdam 44, Stockholm 72: Stockholm leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Rotterdam 85, Stockholm 68: Rotterdam leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Rotterdam 66, Stockholm 82: Stockholm leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Rotterdam 78, Stockholm 84: Stockholm leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Rotterdam 55, Stockholm 70: Stockholm leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Rotterdam 38, Stockholm 30: Rotterdam leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rotterdam 58, Stockholm 65: Stockholm leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rotterdam 42, Stockholm 56: Stockholm leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Rotterdam and Stockholm.

Your match

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

Rotterdam
55match

Wins on day trips and prices with your weighting.

Stockholm
Best match
64match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and culture and sights 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

Stockholm in July

23 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
65 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
18 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
RotterdamStockholm

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.

Stockholm 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.

Stockholm's sunshine is measured 26 km from the centre, at Stockholm Observatoriet.

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). Stockholm: 2003-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Stockholm Bromma Airport (7.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRotterdamStockholm
Official languageDutchSwedish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Swedish Krona (SEK)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation10 m22 m
Main airportRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinationsStockholm-Arlanda Airport (ARN)36 km from centre174 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureRotterdamStockholm
City population664,311984,748
People per km²2,0805,260
Museums within 10 km40266
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km53
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 Stockholm 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. 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.