VacationSelector
The Anshun Bridge over the Jin River, Chengdu
ChengduThe Anshun Bridge over the Jin River
Big Ben and Westminster Bridge, London
LondonBig Ben and Westminster Bridge

Photos: Chengdu by TurnOnTheNight, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; London by AXP Photography, Pexels License.

Chengdu or London?

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
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose London for

  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on London’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, London 25: London leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Chengdu 86, London 84: Chengdu leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Chengdu 60, London 94: London leads by 34 points.
Nightlife. Chengdu 68, London 88: London leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chengdu 68, London 57: Chengdu leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Chengdu 80, London 90: London leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Chengdu 65, London 82: London leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Chengdu 74, London 85: London leads by 11 points.
Shopping & style. Chengdu 64, London 95: London leads by 31 points.
Affordability. Chengdu 80, London 15: Chengdu leads by 65 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chengdu 50, London 98: London leads by 48 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chengdu 58, London 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 London.

Your match

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

Chengdu
63match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

London
Best match
71match

Wins on live music and the arts and culture and sights 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

London in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ChengduLondon

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chengdu: 1991-2020 normals, Chengdu (4.5 km from centre). London: 1992-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, London Weather Centre (1.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChengduLondon
Official languagePutonghuaEnglish
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Pound Sterling (GBP)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+8UTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119112 or 999
Elevation500 m4 m
Main airportChengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU)16 km from centre77 non-stop destinationsLondon Heathrow Airport (LHR)23 km from centre224 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days8 days

By the numbers

MeasureChengduLondon
City population20,937,7578,799,728
People per km²1,4565,598
Museums within 10 km10216
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km04

Where else could you go?

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