VacationSelector
The Anshun Bridge over the Jin River, Chengdu
ChengduThe Anshun Bridge over the Jin River
La Major cathedral from the harbour, Marseille
MarseilleLa Major cathedral from the harbour

Photos: Chengdu by TurnOnTheNight, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Marseille by Charlotte Noblet, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Chengdu or Marseille?

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
  • food and drink

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

Choose Marseille for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Marseille’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, Marseille 72: Marseille leads by 67 points.
Food & drink. Chengdu 86, Marseille 67: Chengdu leads by 19 points.
Culture & sights. Chengdu 60, Marseille 63: Marseille leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Chengdu 68, Marseille 57: Chengdu leads by 11 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chengdu 68, Marseille 83: Marseille leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Chengdu 80, Marseille 86: Marseille leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Chengdu 65, Marseille 50: Chengdu leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Chengdu 74, Marseille 57: Chengdu leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Chengdu 64, Marseille 47: Chengdu leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Chengdu 80, Marseille 45: Chengdu leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chengdu 50, Marseille 56: Marseille leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chengdu 58, Marseille 37: Chengdu leads by 21 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chengdu and Marseille.

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 wellness with your weighting.

Marseille
60match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors 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

Marseille in July

31 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
11 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ChengduMarseille

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chengdu: 1991-2020 normals, Chengdu (4.5 km from centre). Marseille: 1991-2020 normals, Marseille / Marignane (20.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChengduMarseille
Official languagePutonghuaFrench
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Euro (EUR)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119112
Elevation500 m0 m
Main airportChengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU)16 km from centre77 non-stop destinationsMarseille Provence Airport (MRS)21 km from centre126 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureChengduMarseille
City population20,937,757886,040
People per km²1,4563,683
Museums within 10 km1027
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C-2 months

Where else could you go?

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