Rotterdam or Stuttgart?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Wins on beaches & swimming and good for families with your weighting.
Wins on nature & day trips and year-round weather with your weighting.
What matters to you?
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.
The verdict
Choose Rotterdam if the trip is built around the coast and days out with children: 22 beaches within reach, several theme parks, and a wider spread of kitchens to eat in.
Choose Stuttgart if you would rather spend your time outdoors, with protected countryside over much of the surrounding land and warmer summers, and you are content to give up the sea entirely.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. Rotterdam leads by 37 points.37
| Rotterdam | Stuttgart | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 37 | 0 |
| Swim season months | 0 | 0 |
| Beaches 10 km | 22 | 3 |
| Coast distance | 24 km | 476 km |
| Water distance | 24 km | — |
Places to eat. Rotterdam leads by 13 points.13
| Rotterdam | Stuttgart | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 72 | 59 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 862 | 575 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 46 | 29 |
Museums & heritage. Rotterdam leads by 4 points.4
| Rotterdam | Stuttgart | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 60 | 56 |
| Museums within 10 km | 41 | 65 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 20 | 21 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 49 | 32 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 5 | 3 |
Nightlife. Rotterdam and Stuttgart are level on 49.
| Rotterdam | Stuttgart | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 49 | 49 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 542 | 524 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 378 | 374 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 70 | 71 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 40 | 53 |
Nature & day trips. Stuttgart leads by 38 points.38
| Rotterdam | Stuttgart | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 42 | 80 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 10 | 51 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 0 | 31 |
| Land share of disc % | 79 | 100 |
| Park area within 2 km | 61 hectares | 78 hectares |
Good for families. Rotterdam leads by 17 points.17
| Rotterdam | Stuttgart | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 62 | 45 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 27 | 11 |
| Park area within 2 km | 61 hectares | 78 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 8 | 2 |
Sights concentration. Rotterdam leads by 7 points.7
| Rotterdam | Stuttgart | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 51 | 44 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 74 | 50 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Stuttgart leads by 2 points.2
| Rotterdam | Stuttgart | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 58 | 60 |
| Price level global | 79.2 | 75.9 |
| Daily budget | €181 | €163 |
Year-round weather. Stuttgart leads by 7 points.7
| Rotterdam | Stuttgart | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 56 | 63 |
| Monthly daytime high | 6.2 °C to 22.1 °C | 5.6 °C to 25.9 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 42 mm to 85 mm | 33 mm to 79 mm |
| Dry months | 0 | 3 |
Where they differ
Rotterdam is the more coastal of the two, with 22 beaches within reach against Stuttgart's 3, and it is set up better for families: about twice as many tourist attractions near the centre, and 8 theme parks within reach against 2. It also offers a wider range of kitchens to eat in.
Stuttgart is the one for time outdoors: 51% of the land around it is protected against 10% around Rotterdam, and there is somewhat more park space near the centre. It also runs warmer through the year.
Where they are alike
Nightlife is close to a tie: about as many places to drink in each, mostly near the centre, and Stuttgart's slightly larger set of nightclubs does not change the character of an evening.
Museums are comparable too, in different ways: Stuttgart has about twice as many, while Rotterdam's sit more tightly around the centre and it has 5 UNESCO-listed places within day-trip reach against 3. National price levels in the two countries are close as well, €181 against €163.
Which traveller are you?
Families with young children are better served in Rotterdam: about twice as many tourist attractions near the centre, 8 theme parks within reach against Stuttgart's 2, and beaches to fall back on.
Walkers and day-trippers should take Stuttgart: 51% of the land around it is protected against 10% around Rotterdam, with somewhat more park space near the centre for days that stay in town.
A traveller who plans around meals should pick Rotterdam, which has somewhat more restaurants near the centre and a much wider range of kitchens; on museums and evenings out the two are close enough to ignore.
What the numbers don't tell you
Rotterdam's beach count measures access, not swimming conditions. The sea peaks at 19°C and reaches 21°C in neither place, and the warmest water arrives in the wettest part of the year, so 22 beaches nearby buy walks more often than bathing.
The daily budget figure is a national estimate per country, the price level for restaurants and hotels, not a measurement of either city. A heavily visited city can sit further from its own national average than the two countries sit from each other, so it cannot tell you which of these two costs more.
When should you go?
The figures behind each month. Each row is shaded against that destination's own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that measure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.
Temperature and rainfall are thirty-year 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). Stuttgart: 1991-2020 normals, Stuttgart / Neckartal (2.8 km from centre).
Rotterdam is at its best in July and August, when highs sit at 22°C and the sea reaches 19°C, though those are also its wettest months, near 84-85mm. Rain falls through its whole year rather than in a season, so no month is reliably dry.
Stuttgart is warmer at the same time, 24-26°C from June to August, but wet with it. September is its better window: 21°C by day and rainfall down to 49mm, and its winter and early spring stay dry.
Getting there
| Flying from | Rotterdam | Stuttgart |
|---|---|---|
| DublinDUB | 1 h 35 m €69-96 AMS · 47 km | 2 h 10 m no fares FMM · 118 km |
| ParisCDG, ORY, BVA | 1 h 10 m €178-300 AMS · 47 km | 1 h 15 m no fares STR · 10 km |
| MadridMAD | 2 h 25 m €160-183 AMS · 47 km | 2 h 20 m €145-238 1 stop FRA · 146 km |
| IstanbulIST, SAW | 3 h 15 m €140-185 RTM · 5 km | 2 h 40 m €139-291 STR · 10 km |
| CopenhagenCPH | 1 h 25 m €171-212 1 stop AMS · 47 km | 1 h 35 m no fares STR · 10 km |
| ManchesterMAN | 1 h 15 m €145-187 AMS · 47 km | 1 h 40 m no fares FRA · 146 km |
| New YorkJFK, EWR, LGA | 7 h 35 m €512-556 1 stop AMS · 47 km | 7 h 55 m €537-713 FRA · 146 km |
| DubaiDXB, DWC | 6 h 45 m €318-346 1 stop AMS · 47 km | 6 h 20 m €296-339 1 stop FRA · 146 km |
| SingaporeSIN, XSP | 13 h 0 m no fares AMS · 47 km | 12 h 45 m no fares FRA · 146 km |
| Sao PauloGRU, VCP, CGH, RTE | 12 h 10 m no fares AMS · 47 km | 12 h 10 m no fares FRA · 146 km |
The busiest departure cities for these two, with a place kept for each other part of the world. Busiest means arriving passengers where an official count exists, and where none does, the number of non-stop services flown: official route statistics are published by the European reporting countries and by nobody else, so a table ranked on them alone would offer a reader in New York or Tokyo ten European cities. Flying times are estimated from the distance between airports, and every row is a city flown non-stop to both. Where the typical offer connects anyway, the stops are shown. Under each figure is the airport the flight lands at and how far that is from the centre, because the nearest airport is not always the one a route is flown to. Where both columns name the same airport it is one flight, and the difference between the two is the distance printed beside it. Typical return fares for 2026-09 to 2026-10, cached market data up to 7 days old. The figure is the middle half of the offers found, so a single price means they agreed and a range means they did not; for a typical route that middle half spans about a quarter of the median, and for the least settled routes rather more than the median itself.
Before you go
| Measure | Rotterdam | Stuttgart |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Dutch | German |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) | Euro (EUR) |
| Sockets | CF230 V, 50 Hz | CF230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer |
| Emergency number | 112 or 911 | 112 |
| Elevation | 10 m | 245 m |
| Main airport | Rotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre45 non-stop destinations | Stuttgart Airport (STR)10 km from centre121 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 11 days | 12 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Rotterdam | Stuttgart |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 664,311 | 633,484 |
| People per km² | 2,080 | 3,054 |
| Museums within 10 km | 40 | 42 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 5 | 3 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 77 | 59 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | None | – |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Rotterdam or Stuttgart somewhere new.