VacationSelector
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline
The CN Tower and skyline from the Toronto Islands, Toronto
TorontoThe CN Tower and skyline from the Toronto Islands

Photos: Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License; Toronto by Dillan Payne, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Rotterdam or Toronto?

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
  • getting around
  • wellness

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

Choose Toronto for

  • food and drink
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Toronto’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, Toronto 34: Toronto leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Rotterdam 52, Toronto 70: Toronto leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Rotterdam 58, Toronto 50: Rotterdam leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Rotterdam 52, Toronto 62: Toronto leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rotterdam 44, Toronto 52: Toronto leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Rotterdam 85, Toronto 50: Rotterdam leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Rotterdam 66, Toronto 74: Toronto leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Rotterdam 78, Toronto 65: Rotterdam leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. Rotterdam 55, Toronto 66: Toronto leads by 11 points.
Affordability. Rotterdam 38, Toronto 34: Rotterdam leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rotterdam 58, Toronto 72: Toronto leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rotterdam 42, Toronto 33: Rotterdam leads by 9 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Rotterdam and Toronto.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Rotterdam
55match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

Toronto
55match

Wins on food and drink and live music and the arts 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

Toronto in July

27 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
83 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
RotterdamToronto

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). Toronto: 1991-2020 normals, Toronto City (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRotterdamToronto
Official languageDutchFrench, English
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation10 m76 m
Main airportRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinationsToronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ)20 km from centre191 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureRotterdamToronto
City population664,3112,794,356
People per km²2,0804,434
Museums within 10 km4032
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone1 month

Where else could you go?

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