VacationSelector
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline
Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo
TokyoShibuya Crossing

Photos: Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License; Tokyo by Benh LIEU SONG, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Rotterdam or Tokyo?

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

Rotterdam does not lead in any category we score.

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

Choose Tokyo for

  • food and drink
  • shopping
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Tokyo’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, Tokyo 40: Tokyo leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. Rotterdam 52, Tokyo 98: Tokyo leads by 46 points.
Culture & sights. Rotterdam 58, Tokyo 84: Tokyo leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. Rotterdam 52, Tokyo 86: Tokyo leads by 34 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rotterdam 44, Tokyo 68: Tokyo leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Rotterdam and Tokyo are level on 85.
Good for families. Rotterdam 66, Tokyo 95: Tokyo leads by 29 points.
Getting around. Rotterdam 78, Tokyo 98: Tokyo leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Rotterdam 55, Tokyo 99: Tokyo leads by 44 points.
Affordability. Rotterdam 38, Tokyo 48: Tokyo leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rotterdam 58, Tokyo 86: Tokyo leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rotterdam 42, Tokyo 78: Tokyo leads by 36 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Rotterdam and Tokyo.

Your match

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

Rotterdam
55match

Has no clear advantage with the weighting you have chosen.

Tokyo
Best match
80match

Wins on food and drink and shopping 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

Tokyo in July

30 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
157 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
23 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
RotterdamTokyo

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). Tokyo: 1991-2020 normals, Tokyo (3.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRotterdamTokyo
Official languageDutchJapanese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Yen (JPY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+9
Emergency number112Police 110, fire 119
Elevation10 m6 m
Main airportRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinationsTokyo Haneda International Airport (HND)18 km from centre98 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureRotterdamTokyo
City population664,31114,264,798
People per km²2,0806,501
Museums within 10 km40192
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km51
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone4 months

Where else could you go?

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