VacationSelector
The Parthenon on the Acropolis, Athens
AthensThe Parthenon on the Acropolis
The Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower, Shanghai
ShanghaiThe Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower

Photos: Athens by Ranjeet Kumar Singh, Pexels License; Shanghai by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Athens 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 Athens for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Shanghai for

  • shopping
  • families
  • getting around

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. Athens 70, Shanghai 10: Athens leads by 60 points.
Food & drink. Athens 78, Shanghai 88: Shanghai leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Athens 88, Shanghai 72: Athens leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Athens and Shanghai are level on 80.
Nature & outdoors. Athens 64, Shanghai 25: Athens leads by 39 points.
Day trips. Athens 85, Shanghai 90: Shanghai leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Athens 58, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Athens 66, Shanghai 85: Shanghai leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Athens 55, Shanghai 82: Shanghai leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Athens 56, Shanghai 55: Athens leads by 1 points.
Live music & performing arts. Athens 64, Shanghai 66: Shanghai leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Athens 42, Shanghai 55: Shanghai leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Athens and Shanghai.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Athens
67match

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

Shanghai
66match

Wins on shopping and families 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

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
AthensShanghai

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Athens: 1991-2020 normals, Athens / Athenai / Pláka (2.2 km from centre). Shanghai: 1991-2020 normals, Shanghai / Hongqiao (8.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAthensShanghai
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 m4 m
Main airportAthens Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport (ATH)20 km from centre173 non-stop destinationsShanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)33 km from centre207 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureAthensShanghai
City population643,45224,870,895
People per km²16,4993,922
Museums within 10 km8845
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Athens 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). 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.