VacationSelector
The Anshun Bridge over the Jin River, Chengdu
ChengduThe Anshun Bridge over the Jin River
The Grand Lisboa above the Macau skyline, Macau
MacauThe Grand Lisboa above the Macau skyline

Photos: Chengdu by TurnOnTheNight, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Macau by tian Jin, Pexels License.

Chengdu or Macau?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • nightlife

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

Choose Macau for

  • beaches
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Macau’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, Macau 24: Macau leads by 19 points.
Food & drink. Chengdu 86, Macau 77: Chengdu leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Chengdu 60, Macau 62: Macau leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Chengdu 68, Macau 40: Chengdu leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chengdu 68, Macau 5: Chengdu leads by 63 points.
Day trips. Chengdu 80, Macau 52: Chengdu leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Chengdu 65, Macau 48: Chengdu leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Chengdu 74, Macau 60: Chengdu leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Chengdu 64, Macau 58: Chengdu leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Chengdu 80, Macau 44: Chengdu leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chengdu 50, Macau 36: Chengdu leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chengdu 58, Macau 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 Macau.

Your match

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

Chengdu
Best match
63match

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

Macau
46match

Wins on beaches 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
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Macau in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
281 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ChengduMacau

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chengdu: 1991-2020 normals, Chengdu (4.5 km from centre). Macau: 1991-2020 normals, Taipa (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChengduMacau
Official languagePutonghuaPortuguese, Cantonese, Standard Chinese
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Pataca (MOP)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzFGM220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119999
Elevation500 m22 m
Main airportChengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU)16 km from centre77 non-stop destinationsMacau International Airport (MFM)7 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days-

By the numbers

MeasureChengduMacau
City population20,937,757682,100
People per km²1,4565,916
Museums within 10 km1028
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C-8 months

Where else could you go?

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