VacationSelector
The Parthenon on the Acropolis, Athens
AthensThe Parthenon on the Acropolis
The Anshun Bridge over the Jin River, Chengdu
ChengduThe Anshun Bridge over the Jin River

Photos: Athens by Ranjeet Kumar Singh, Pexels License; Chengdu by TurnOnTheNight, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Athens 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 Athens for

  • beaches
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Chengdu for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • shopping

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. Athens 70, Chengdu 5: Athens leads by 65 points.
Food & drink. Athens 78, Chengdu 86: Chengdu leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Athens 88, Chengdu 60: Athens leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Athens 80, Chengdu 68: Athens leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Athens 64, Chengdu 68: Chengdu leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Athens 85, Chengdu 80: Athens leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Athens 58, Chengdu 65: Chengdu leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Athens 66, Chengdu 74: Chengdu leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Athens 55, Chengdu 64: Chengdu leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Athens 56, Chengdu 80: Chengdu leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Athens 64, Chengdu 50: Athens leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Athens 42, Chengdu 58: Chengdu leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Athens and Chengdu.

Your match

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

Athens
Best match
67match

Wins on beaches and culture and sights with your weighting.

Chengdu
63match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Athens in July

34 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
7 mmrain in the month
13 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
AthensChengdu

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Athens: 1991-2020 normals, Athens / Athenai / Pláka (2.2 km from centre). Chengdu: 1991-2020 normals, Chengdu (4.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAthensChengdu
Official languageGreekPutonghua
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation74 m500 m
Main airportAthens Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport (ATH)20 km from centre173 non-stop destinationsChengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU)16 km from centre77 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureAthensChengdu
City population643,45220,937,757
People per km²16,4991,456
Museums within 10 km8810
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 Athens 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.