VacationSelector
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline
The Croatian National Theatre, Zagreb
ZagrebThe Croatian National Theatre

Photos: Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License; Zagreb by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Rotterdam or Zagreb?

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
  • beaches
  • shopping

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

Choose Zagreb for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Zagreb’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, Zagreb 10: Rotterdam leads by 17 points.
Food & drink. Rotterdam 52, Zagreb 55: Zagreb leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Rotterdam 58, Zagreb 56: Rotterdam leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Rotterdam 52, Zagreb 47: Rotterdam leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Rotterdam 44, Zagreb 62: Zagreb leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Rotterdam 85, Zagreb 60: Rotterdam leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Rotterdam 66, Zagreb 52: Rotterdam leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Rotterdam 78, Zagreb 70: Rotterdam leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Rotterdam 55, Zagreb 40: Rotterdam leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Rotterdam 38, Zagreb 60: Zagreb leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Rotterdam 58, Zagreb 52: Rotterdam leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Rotterdam 42, Zagreb 33: Rotterdam leads by 9 points.
0255075100

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

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 beaches with your weighting.

Zagreb
50match

Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors 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

Zagreb in July

29 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
RotterdamZagreb

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). Zagreb: 1991-2020 normals, Zagreb / Gric (0.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureRotterdamZagreb
Official languageDutchCroatian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation10 m127 m
Main airportRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinationsZagreb Franjo Tuđman International Airport (ZAG)11 km from centre64 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureRotterdamZagreb
City population664,311767,131
People per km²2,080-
Museums within 10 km4027
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km50
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Rotterdam or Zagreb 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. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.