VacationSelector
The Anshun Bridge over the Jin River, Chengdu
ChengduThe Anshun Bridge over the Jin River
Flinders Street Station, Melbourne
MelbourneFlinders Street Station

Photos: Chengdu by TurnOnTheNight, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Melbourne by Medelam, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Chengdu or Melbourne?

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
  • day trips
  • food and drink

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

Choose Melbourne for

  • beaches
  • live music and the arts
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Melbourne’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, Melbourne 50: Melbourne leads by 45 points.
Food & drink. Chengdu 86, Melbourne 75: Chengdu leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Chengdu 60, Melbourne 57: Chengdu leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Chengdu 68, Melbourne 75: Melbourne leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chengdu 68, Melbourne 70: Melbourne leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Chengdu 80, Melbourne 62: Chengdu leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Chengdu 65, Melbourne 73: Melbourne leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Chengdu 74, Melbourne 76: Melbourne leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Chengdu 64, Melbourne 70: Melbourne leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Chengdu 80, Melbourne 31: Chengdu leads by 49 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chengdu 50, Melbourne 72: Melbourne leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chengdu 58, Melbourne 54: Chengdu leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chengdu and Melbourne.

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 day trips with your weighting.

Melbourne
64match

Wins on beaches and live music and the arts 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

Melbourne in July

14 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ChengduMelbourne

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chengdu: 1991-2020 normals, Chengdu (4.5 km from centre). Melbourne: 1991-2020 normals, Latrobe University / Kingsbury (13.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChengduMelbourne
Official languagePutonghuaEnglish
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Australian Dollar (AUD)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+10, UTC+11 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119000
Elevation500 m31 m
Main airportChengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU)16 km from centre77 non-stop destinationsMelbourne Airport (MEL)19 km from centre69 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureChengduMelbourne
City population20,937,7575,350,705
People per km²1,456535
Museums within 10 km1043
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

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