VacationSelector
The Anshun Bridge over the Jin River, Chengdu
ChengduThe Anshun Bridge over the Jin River
The opera house on Place de la Comédie, Montpellier
MontpellierThe opera house on Place de la Comédie

Photos: Chengdu by TurnOnTheNight, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Montpellier by Peter, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Chengdu or Montpellier?

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
  • shopping

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

Choose Montpellier for

  • beaches
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Montpellier’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, Montpellier 64: Montpellier leads by 59 points.
Food & drink. Chengdu 86, Montpellier 64: Chengdu leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Chengdu and Montpellier are level on 60.
Nightlife. Chengdu 68, Montpellier 56: Chengdu leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chengdu 68, Montpellier 72: Montpellier leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Chengdu 80, Montpellier 85: Montpellier leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Chengdu 65, Montpellier 62: Chengdu leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Chengdu and Montpellier are level on 74.
Shopping & style. Chengdu 64, Montpellier 47: Chengdu leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Chengdu 80, Montpellier 50: Chengdu leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chengdu 50, Montpellier 63: Montpellier leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chengdu 58, Montpellier 42: Chengdu leads by 16 points.
0255075100

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

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.

Montpellier
62match

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

Montpellier in July

30 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
17 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ChengduMontpellier

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chengdu: 1991-2020 normals, Chengdu (4.5 km from centre). Montpellier: 1991-2020 normals, Montpellier (7.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChengduMontpellier
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 m7 m
Main airportChengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU)16 km from centre77 non-stop destinationsMontpellier-Méditerranée Airport (MPL)8 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureChengduMontpellier
City population20,937,757310,240
People per km²1,4565,452
Museums within 10 km1014
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
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 Montpellier 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.