VacationSelector
The Anshun Bridge over the Jin River, Chengdu
ChengduThe Anshun Bridge over the Jin River
Galway Cathedral from the River Corrib, Galway
GalwayGalway Cathedral from the River Corrib

Photos: Chengdu by TurnOnTheNight, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Galway by Dieglop, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Chengdu or Galway?

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 Chengdu for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • wellness

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

Choose Galway for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Galway’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. Chengdu 5, Galway 28: Galway leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Chengdu 86, Galway 45: Chengdu leads by 41 points.
Culture & sights. Chengdu 60, Galway 33: Chengdu leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Chengdu 68, Galway 50: Chengdu leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chengdu 68, Galway 78: Galway leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Chengdu 80, Galway 56: Chengdu leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Chengdu 65, Galway 42: Chengdu leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Chengdu 74, Galway 58: Chengdu leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Chengdu 64, Galway 38: Chengdu leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Chengdu 80, Galway 28: Chengdu leads by 52 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chengdu 50, Galway 57: Galway leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chengdu 58, Galway 28: Chengdu leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chengdu and Galway.

Your match

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

Chengdu
Best match
63match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Galway
45match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

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

Galway in July

20 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
91 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ChengduGalway

Where the figures come from

Galway's temperatures are measured 64 km from the centre, at Shannon Airport.

Galway has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chengdu: 1991-2020 normals, Chengdu (4.5 km from centre). Galway: 1991-2020 normals, Shannon Airport (64.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChengduGalway
Official languagePutonghuaEnglish, Irish
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Euro (EUR)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+8UTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119112
Elevation500 m25 m
Main airportChengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU)16 km from centre77 non-stop destinationsShannon Airport (SNN)64 km from centre39 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureChengduGalway
City population20,937,75783,456
People per km²1,4561,563
Museums within 10 km104
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chengdu or Galway 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). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.