VacationSelector
The Anshun Bridge over the Jin River, Chengdu
ChengduThe Anshun Bridge over the Jin River
The cathedral from the gardens, Malaga
MalagaThe cathedral from the gardens

Photos: Chengdu by TurnOnTheNight, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Malaga by Holger Uwe Schmitt, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Chengdu or Malaga?

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 Malaga for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Malaga’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, Malaga 77: Malaga leads by 72 points.
Food & drink. Chengdu 86, Malaga 68: Chengdu leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Chengdu 60, Malaga 65: Malaga leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Chengdu 68, Malaga 62: Chengdu leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chengdu 68, Malaga 73: Malaga leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Chengdu 80, Malaga 87: Malaga leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Chengdu 65, Malaga 70: Malaga leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Chengdu 74, Malaga 70: Chengdu leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Chengdu 64, Malaga 55: Chengdu leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Chengdu 80, Malaga 55: Chengdu leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chengdu 50, Malaga 45: Chengdu leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chengdu 58, Malaga 42: Chengdu leads by 16 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chengdu and Malaga.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Chengdu
63match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Malaga
64match

Wins on beaches 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

Malaga in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
22 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ChengduMalaga

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chengdu: 1991-2020 normals, Chengdu (4.5 km from centre). Malaga: 1991-2020 normals, Malaga / Aeropuerto (8.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChengduMalaga
Official languagePutonghuaSpanish
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Euro (EUR)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119112
Elevation500 m18 m
Main airportChengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU)16 km from centre77 non-stop destinationsMálaga-Costa del Sol Airport (AGP)8 km from centre166 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureChengduMalaga
City population20,937,757599,063
People per km²1,4561,517
Museums within 10 km1032
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C-3 months

Where else could you go?

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