VacationSelector
Fort San Pedro in Cebu City, Cebu
CebuFort San Pedro in Cebu City
The Anshun Bridge over the Jin River, Chengdu
ChengduThe Anshun Bridge over the Jin River

Photos: Cebu by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Chengdu by TurnOnTheNight, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Cebu 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 Cebu for

  • beaches

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

Choose Chengdu for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • food and drink

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. Cebu 60, Chengdu 5: Cebu leads by 55 points.
Food & drink. Cebu 58, Chengdu 86: Chengdu leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. Cebu 40, Chengdu 60: Chengdu leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Cebu 46, Chengdu 68: Chengdu leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cebu 60, Chengdu 68: Chengdu leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Cebu 44, Chengdu 80: Chengdu leads by 36 points.
Good for families. Cebu 45, Chengdu 65: Chengdu leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Cebu 26, Chengdu 74: Chengdu leads by 48 points.
Shopping & style. Cebu 44, Chengdu 64: Chengdu leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Cebu and Chengdu are level on 80.
Live music & performing arts. Cebu 25, Chengdu 50: Chengdu leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cebu 50, Chengdu 58: Chengdu leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cebu and Chengdu.

Your match

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

Cebu
48match

Wins on beaches with your weighting.

Chengdu
Best match
63match

Wins on getting around 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.

Cebu in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
205 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 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
CebuChengdu

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cebu: 1991-2020 normals, Mactan (7.1 km from centre). Chengdu: 1991-2020 normals, Chengdu (4.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCebuChengdu
Official languageEnglish, Filipino, TaglishPutonghua
CurrencyPhilippine Peso (PHP)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+8
Emergency number911Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation135 m500 m
Main airportMactan Cebu International Airport (CEB)9 km from centre41 non-stop destinationsChengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU)16 km from centre77 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year18 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureCebuChengdu
City population965,33220,937,757
People per km²3,0651,456
Museums within 10 km510
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

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