Rotterdam weather by month
The best time to visit Rotterdam is June to August — 93/100 in August, 24°C and 9 rainy days. The best season is summer, June to August (91/100 on average).
The worst month is January at 49/100 — cold, rainy, clean air. See January →
Updated September 2026 · climate normals from ERA5 reanalysis
Planning the wider trip? Best time to visit Netherlands →
Best season: June to August (91/100 on average) · worst January (49/100)
- Days
- 24°C
- Nights
- 14°C
- Wet days
- 9
- Sun
- 11.3 h
- Humidity
- 75%
- Daylight
- 15 h
Rotterdam, month by month
Comfort score out of 100 for the kind of trip Rotterdam is best for, the average high, rainy days and hours of sun a day from the climate normals, and how busy it tends to be.
What's on in Rotterdam through the year
Festivals, natural spectacles, holidays and the seasons to watch out for — curated and sourced. The month pages carry the detail.
- January
- IFFR22 Jan – 8 Feb (usually)Festival
- March
- Museumnacht0107 MarFestival
- April
- Rotterdam Marathon5–20 Apr (usually)Festival
- King's Day27 AprHoliday
- May
- O. Festival22–31 MayFestival
- Rotterdam Rooftop Days30 May – 7 JunFestival
- June
- Poetry International Festival1–10 Jun (usually)Festival
- July
- North Sea Jazz8–16 Jul (usually)Festival
- Zomercarnaval24–25 JulFestival
- August
- Wereldhavendagen4–6 SepFestival
- December
- Christmas and New Year24 Dec – 1 JanHoliday
Crowds in Rotterdam in August
How busy the place itself is — school and mass holidays, the months an editor tagged, and how sought-after the weather makes them. Never part of the comfort score.
BusySummer holidays in Netherlands, school holidays in 6 of the markets that fill it(estimated)
Peak crowdsBusyShoulder seasonQuiet
Good to know before you go to Rotterdam
Real experiences from travellers' own write-ups, quoted with a link to the original.
Visas & entry
A first-timer's guide to Rotterdam recommends a guided bike tour as the best way to get oriented, noting the city's bike lanes are wide, well-separated from traffic, and genuinely easier for a nervous or novice cyclist than Amsterdam's narrower, more crowded routes. She found the bold, modern architecture (the Cube Houses, Markthal, the bridges) made far more sense once a local guide explained the post-war rebuilding history behind it, rather than just photographing the buildings without context.
Traveller notes on Rotterdam
What people who have been say about the place — the year-round notes first, then month by month.
Forum posters describe January across the Netherlands, Rotterdam included, as capable of almost anything - temperatures anywhere between -15C and 15C, with varying degrees of rain, snow, or clear skies possible on a given day. Posters consistently recommend a proper winter coat, hat, scarf, gloves, warm sweaters and genuinely warm, weatherproof footwear regardless of forecast. Posters are direct that snow isn't guaranteed, and even when it does fall it typically doesn't stick around for long. Posters generally caution that forecasts here are only reasonably reliable about 2-3 days out, so treating a longer-range prediction as certain is a mistake. Posters generally rate January as workable for a Rotterdam visit with the right packing, but genuinely unpredictable day to day.
The Dutch line the forum keeps quoting for July is "if you don't like the weather, just wait five minutes" — and the numbers bear it out: around 22°C on average, but posters describe 28°C one day and 15°C the next, and sunny mornings turning to thunder by the afternoon. Rain lands on about thirteen days. Layers plus a small umbrella or poncho is the standing advice, with a big thin scarf as the adjustable extra. July is also crowded and pricier once the school holidays start. Rotterdam-specific: the bike paths, the harbour boat tours, Delfshaven and the water taxi all survive a shower.
Add your own note from Rotterdam's card on the map.