VacationSelector
The Anshun Bridge over the Jin River, Chengdu
ChengduThe Anshun Bridge over the Jin River
Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan, New York
New YorkBrooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan

Photos: Chengdu by TurnOnTheNight, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; New York by Jakub Hałun, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Chengdu or New York?

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
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose New York for

  • live music and the arts
  • beaches
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on New York’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, New York 50: New York leads by 45 points.
Food & drink. Chengdu 86, New York 92: New York leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Chengdu 60, New York 89: New York leads by 29 points.
Nightlife. Chengdu 68, New York 97: New York leads by 29 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chengdu 68, New York 55: Chengdu leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Chengdu 80, New York 68: Chengdu leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Chengdu 65, New York 70: New York leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Chengdu 74, New York 82: New York leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Chengdu 64, New York 97: New York leads by 33 points.
Affordability. Chengdu 80, New York 12: Chengdu leads by 68 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chengdu 50, New York 99: New York leads by 49 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chengdu 58, New York 42: Chengdu leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chengdu and New York.

Your match

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

Chengdu
63match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

New York
Best match
71match

Wins on live music and the arts and beaches 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

New York in July

30 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
107 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
22 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ChengduNew York

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chengdu: 1991-2020 normals, Chengdu (4.5 km from centre). New York: 1991-2020 normals, LaGuardia Airport (12.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChengduNew York
Official languagePutonghua-
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119911
Elevation500 m25 m
Main airportChengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU)16 km from centre77 non-stop destinationsJohn F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)21 km from centre189 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureChengduNew York
City population20,937,7578,804,190
People per km²1,4567,256
Museums within 10 km10157
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
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 New York 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.