VacationSelector
The Anshun Bridge over the Jin River, Chengdu
ChengduThe Anshun Bridge over the Jin River
The pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto
KyotoThe pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera

Photos: Chengdu by TurnOnTheNight, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Kyoto by Bert Mulder, Pexels License.

Chengdu or Kyoto?

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

  • nightlife
  • prices
  • getting around

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

Choose Kyoto for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Kyoto’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, Kyoto 15: Kyoto leads by 10 points.
Food & drink. Chengdu 86, Kyoto 85: Chengdu leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Chengdu 60, Kyoto 96: Kyoto leads by 36 points.
Nightlife. Chengdu 68, Kyoto 35: Chengdu leads by 33 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chengdu 68, Kyoto 70: Kyoto leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Chengdu 80, Kyoto 96: Kyoto leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Chengdu 65, Kyoto 68: Kyoto leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Chengdu 74, Kyoto 72: Chengdu leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Chengdu 64, Kyoto 72: Kyoto leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Chengdu 80, Kyoto 50: Chengdu leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chengdu 50, Kyoto 60: Kyoto leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chengdu 58, Kyoto 70: Kyoto leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chengdu and Kyoto.

Your match

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

Chengdu
63match

Wins on nightlife and prices with your weighting.

Kyoto
Best match
66match

Wins on culture and sights 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.

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

Kyoto in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
225 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ChengduKyoto

Where the figures come from

Kyoto's sunshine is measured 43 km from the centre, at Osaka.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chengdu: 1991-2020 normals, Chengdu (4.5 km from centre). Kyoto: 1971-2000 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Kyoto (3.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChengduKyoto
Official languagePutonghuaJapanese
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Yen (JPY)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+9
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119Police 110, fire 119
Elevation500 m51 m
Main airportChengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU)16 km from centre77 non-stop destinationsKansai International Airport (KIX)81 km from centre62 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureChengduKyoto
City population20,937,7571,463,723
People per km²1,4561,768
Museums within 10 km1077
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km04
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chengdu or Kyoto 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.