VacationSelector
The Fisherman's Bastion, Budapest
BudapestThe Fisherman's Bastion
The Anshun Bridge over the Jin River, Chengdu
ChengduThe Anshun Bridge over the Jin River

Photos: Budapest by Perituss, CC0; Chengdu by TurnOnTheNight, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Budapest 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 Budapest for

  • wellness
  • live music and the arts
  • beaches

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

Choose Chengdu for

  • food and drink
  • prices
  • day trips

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. Budapest 25, Chengdu 5: Budapest leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Budapest 63, Chengdu 86: Chengdu leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Budapest 80, Chengdu 60: Budapest leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Budapest 78, Chengdu 68: Budapest leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Budapest 58, Chengdu 68: Chengdu leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Budapest 68, Chengdu 80: Chengdu leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Budapest 62, Chengdu 65: Chengdu leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Budapest 78, Chengdu 74: Budapest leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Budapest 55, Chengdu 64: Chengdu leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Budapest 62, Chengdu 80: Chengdu leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Budapest 76, Chengdu 50: Budapest leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Budapest 98, Chengdu 58: Budapest leads by 40 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Budapest and Chengdu.

Your match

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

Budapest
Best match
67match

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

Chengdu
63match

Wins on food and drink 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.

Budapest in July

27 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
75 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
16 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
BudapestChengdu

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Budapest: 1991-2020 normals, Budapest Met Center (2.1 km from centre). Chengdu: 1991-2020 normals, Chengdu (4.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBudapestChengdu
Official languageHungarianPutonghua
CurrencyForint (HUF)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
Elevation117 m500 m
Main airportBudapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport (BUD)18 km from centre157 non-stop destinationsChengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU)16 km from centre77 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureBudapestChengdu
City population1,675,77720,937,757
People per km²3,1911,456
Museums within 10 km8110
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Budapest 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.