VacationSelector
Wat Pho, Bangkok
BangkokWat Pho
The Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower, Shanghai
ShanghaiThe Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower

Photos: Bangkok by Lu Zhao, Pexels License; Shanghai by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Bangkok 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 Bangkok for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Shanghai for

  • getting around
  • families
  • 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. Bangkok 12, Shanghai 10: Bangkok leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Bangkok 95, Shanghai 88: Bangkok leads by 7 points.
Culture & sights. Bangkok 80, Shanghai 72: Bangkok leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Bangkok 85, Shanghai 80: Bangkok leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bangkok and Shanghai are level on 25.
Day trips. Bangkok 72, Shanghai 90: Shanghai leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Bangkok 50, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Bangkok 50, Shanghai 85: Shanghai leads by 35 points.
Shopping & style. Bangkok 80, Shanghai 82: Shanghai leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Bangkok 85, Shanghai 55: Bangkok leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bangkok 52, Shanghai 66: Shanghai leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bangkok 75, Shanghai 55: Bangkok leads by 20 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Bangkok
63match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

Shanghai
Best match
66match

Wins on getting around 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.

Bangkok in July

34 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
184 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 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

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
BangkokShanghai

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bangkok: 1991-2020 normals, Bangkok (5.7 km from centre). Shanghai: 1991-2020 normals, Shanghai / Hongqiao (8.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBangkokShanghai
Official languageThaiPutonghua
CurrencyBaht (THB)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation2 m4 m
Main airportSuvarnabhumi Airport (BKK)26 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsShanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)33 km from centre207 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-6 days

By the numbers

MeasureBangkokShanghai
City population5,676,64824,870,895
People per km²3,6193,922
Museums within 10 km5945
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bangkok 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). 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.