VacationSelector
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Rotterdam or Wellington?

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
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

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

Choose Wellington for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • food and drink
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Wellington’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, Wellington 33: Wellington leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Rotterdam 52, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Rotterdam 58, Wellington 44: Rotterdam leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Rotterdam 52, Wellington 45: Rotterdam leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rotterdam 44, Wellington 78: Wellington leads by 34 points.
Day trips. Rotterdam 85, Wellington 40: Rotterdam leads by 45 points.
Good for families. Rotterdam 66, Wellington 62: Rotterdam leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Rotterdam 78, Wellington 68: Rotterdam leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Rotterdam 55, Wellington 42: Rotterdam leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Rotterdam 38, Wellington 33: Rotterdam leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rotterdam 58, Wellington 56: Rotterdam leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rotterdam 42, Wellington 30: Rotterdam leads by 12 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Rotterdam and Wellington.

Your match

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

Rotterdam
Best match
55match

Wins on day trips and culture and sights with your weighting.

Wellington
49match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and food and drink 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

Wellington in July

12 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
RotterdamWellington

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.

Wellington's sunshine is measured 47 km from the centre, at Paraparaumu Aerodrome.

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). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRotterdamWellington
Official languageDutchEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyEuro (EUR)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number112111
Elevation10 m0 m
Main airportRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureRotterdamWellington
City population664,311216,200
People per km²2,080487
Museums within 10 km4012
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
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 Wellington 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.