VacationSelector
The Explanada de España, Alicante
AlicanteThe Explanada de España
The Anshun Bridge over the Jin River, Chengdu
ChengduThe Anshun Bridge over the Jin River

Photos: Alicante by Emilio Sánchez Hernández, Pexels License; Chengdu by TurnOnTheNight, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Alicante or Chengdu?

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 Alicante for

  • beaches
  • families

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

Choose Chengdu for

  • shopping
  • prices
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Chengdu’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. Alicante 82, Chengdu 5: Alicante leads by 77 points.
Food & drink. Alicante 67, Chengdu 86: Chengdu leads by 19 points.
Culture & sights. Alicante 46, Chengdu 60: Chengdu leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Alicante 60, Chengdu 68: Chengdu leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Alicante 63, Chengdu 68: Chengdu leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Alicante 72, Chengdu 80: Chengdu leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Alicante 68, Chengdu 65: Alicante leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Alicante 66, Chengdu 74: Chengdu leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Alicante 44, Chengdu 64: Chengdu leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Alicante 60, Chengdu 80: Chengdu leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Alicante 37, Chengdu 50: Chengdu leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Alicante 40, Chengdu 58: Chengdu leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Alicante and Chengdu.

Your match

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

Alicante
59match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Chengdu
Best match
63match

Wins on shopping and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Alicante in July

30 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Chengdu in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
177 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AlicanteChengdu

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Alicante: 1991-2020 normals, Alicante (2.8 km from centre). Chengdu: 1991-2020 normals, Chengdu (4.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAlicanteChengdu
Official languageSpanishPutonghua
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation3 m500 m
Main airportAlicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC)10 km from centre126 non-stop destinationsChengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU)16 km from centre77 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureAlicanteChengdu
City population366,22120,937,757
People per km²1,8191,456
Museums within 10 km810
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months-

Where else could you go?

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