VacationSelector
The Anshun Bridge over the Jin River, Chengdu
ChengduThe Anshun Bridge over the Jin River
The Aare at Unterseen, Interlaken, Interlaken
InterlakenThe Aare at Unterseen, Interlaken

Photos: Chengdu by TurnOnTheNight, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Interlaken by Roy Egloff, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Chengdu or Interlaken?

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
  • nightlife

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

Choose Interlaken for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Interlaken’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, Interlaken 30: Interlaken leads by 25 points.
Food & drink. Chengdu 86, Interlaken 25: Chengdu leads by 61 points.
Culture & sights. Chengdu 60, Interlaken 8: Chengdu leads by 52 points.
Nightlife. Chengdu 68, Interlaken 15: Chengdu leads by 53 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chengdu 68, Interlaken 97: Interlaken leads by 29 points.
Day trips. Chengdu 80, Interlaken 78: Chengdu leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Chengdu 65, Interlaken 72: Interlaken leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Chengdu 74, Interlaken 80: Interlaken leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Chengdu 64, Interlaken 22: Chengdu leads by 42 points.
Affordability. Chengdu 80, Interlaken 8: Chengdu leads by 72 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chengdu 50, Interlaken 15: Chengdu leads by 35 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chengdu 58, Interlaken 40: Chengdu leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chengdu and Interlaken.

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.

Interlaken
41match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches 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
14 hdaylight a day

Interlaken in July

24 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ChengduInterlaken

Where the figures come from

Interlaken 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). Interlaken: 2005-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Meiringen / Unterbach (19.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChengduInterlaken
Official languagePutonghuaFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119112
Elevation500 m571 m
Main airportChengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU)16 km from centre77 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)100 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureChengduInterlaken
City population20,937,7576,123
People per km²1,4561,424
Museums within 10 km103
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chengdu or Interlaken 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. 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.