VacationSelector
The CEC Palace on Calea Victoriei, Bucharest
BucharestThe CEC Palace on Calea Victoriei
The Anshun Bridge over the Jin River, Chengdu
ChengduThe Anshun Bridge over the Jin River

Photos: Bucharest by Jorge Láscar, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Chengdu by TurnOnTheNight, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Bucharest 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 Bucharest for

  • live music and the arts
  • beaches
  • nightlife

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

Choose Chengdu for

  • food and drink
  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Bucharest 8, Chengdu 5: Bucharest leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Bucharest 55, Chengdu 86: Chengdu leads by 31 points.
Culture & sights. Bucharest 58, Chengdu 60: Chengdu leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Bucharest 70, Chengdu 68: Bucharest leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bucharest 45, Chengdu 68: Chengdu leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Bucharest 52, Chengdu 80: Chengdu leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Bucharest 52, Chengdu 65: Chengdu leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Bucharest 52, Chengdu 74: Chengdu leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Bucharest 45, Chengdu 64: Chengdu leads by 19 points.
Affordability. Bucharest 70, Chengdu 80: Chengdu leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bucharest 60, Chengdu 50: Bucharest leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bucharest 47, Chengdu 58: Chengdu leads by 11 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bucharest and Chengdu.

Your match

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

Bucharest
51match

Wins on live music and the arts and beaches with your weighting.

Chengdu
Best match
63match

Wins on food and drink and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Bucharest in July

30 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
68 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Chengdu in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
177 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
BucharestChengdu

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bucharest: 1991-2020 normals, Bucuresti / Imh (10 km from centre). Chengdu: 1991-2020 normals, Chengdu (4.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBucharestChengdu
Official languageRomanianPutonghua
CurrencyRomanian Leu (RON)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
Elevation70 m500 m
Main airportBucharest Henri Coandă International Airport (OTP)18 km from centre121 non-stop destinationsChengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU)16 km from centre77 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureBucharestChengdu
City population1,716,96120,937,757
People per km²7,5971,456
Museums within 10 km4110
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bucharest 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.