VacationSelector
The Adelaide skyline and the footbridge over the River Torrens, Adelaide
AdelaideThe Adelaide skyline and the footbridge over the River Torrens
The Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower, Shanghai
ShanghaiThe Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower

Photos: Adelaide by Ardash Muradian, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Shanghai by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Adelaide or Shanghai?

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 Adelaide for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Shanghai for

  • nightlife
  • shopping
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Shanghai’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. Adelaide 68, Shanghai 10: Adelaide leads by 58 points.
Food & drink. Adelaide 72, Shanghai 88: Shanghai leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Adelaide 48, Shanghai 72: Shanghai leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Adelaide 42, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 38 points.
Nature & outdoors. Adelaide 66, Shanghai 25: Adelaide leads by 41 points.
Day trips. Adelaide 60, Shanghai 90: Shanghai leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Adelaide 70, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Adelaide 57, Shanghai 85: Shanghai leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Adelaide 44, Shanghai 82: Shanghai leads by 38 points.
Affordability. Adelaide 40, Shanghai 55: Shanghai leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Adelaide 63, Shanghai 66: Shanghai leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Adelaide 42, Shanghai 55: Shanghai leads by 13 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Adelaide
56match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Shanghai
Best match
66match

Wins on nightlife 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.

Adelaide in July

16 °Cdaytime high
8 °Cnight-time low
72 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
14 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Shanghai in July

33 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
151 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AdelaideShanghai

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Adelaide: 1991-2020 normals, Adelaide (West Terrace / ngayirdapira) (3.1 km from centre). Shanghai: 1991-2020 normals, Shanghai / Hongqiao (8.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAdelaideShanghai
Official languageEnglishPutonghua
CurrencyAustralian Dollar (AUD)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9:30, UTC+10:30 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number000Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation1 m4 m
Main airportAdelaide International Airport (ADL)6 km from centre35 non-stop destinationsShanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)33 km from centre207 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureAdelaideShanghai
City population1,387,29024,870,895
People per km²1,0713,922
Museums within 10 km1345
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Adelaide or Shanghai 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). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.

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.