VacationSelector
The Anshun Bridge over the Jin River, Chengdu
ChengduThe Anshun Bridge over the Jin River
Palm Springs

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

Chengdu or Palm Springs?

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

  • getting around
  • prices
  • food and drink

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

Choose Palm Springs for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Palm Springs’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, Palm Springs 7: Palm Springs leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Chengdu 86, Palm Springs 40: Chengdu leads by 46 points.
Culture & sights. Chengdu 60, Palm Springs 42: Chengdu leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Chengdu 68, Palm Springs 36: Chengdu leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chengdu 68, Palm Springs 78: Palm Springs leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Chengdu 80, Palm Springs 38: Chengdu leads by 42 points.
Good for families. Chengdu 65, Palm Springs 40: Chengdu leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Chengdu 74, Palm Springs 22: Chengdu leads by 52 points.
Shopping & style. Chengdu 64, Palm Springs 44: Chengdu leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Chengdu 80, Palm Springs 32: Chengdu leads by 48 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chengdu 50, Palm Springs 40: Chengdu leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chengdu 58, Palm Springs 80: Palm Springs leads by 22 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chengdu and Palm Springs.

Your match

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

Chengdu
Best match
63match

Wins on getting around and prices with your weighting.

Palm Springs
42match

Wins on wellness 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
14 hdaylight a day

Palm Springs in July

42 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
5 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ChengduPalm Springs

Where the figures come from

Palm Springs has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chengdu: 1991-2020 normals, Chengdu (4.5 km from centre). Palm Springs: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Palm Springs (2.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChengduPalm Springs
Official languagePutonghua-
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119911
Elevation500 m146 m
Main airportChengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU)16 km from centre77 non-stop destinationsPalm Springs International Airport (PSP)2 km from centre29 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureChengduPalm Springs
City population20,937,75744,575
People per km²1,456181
Museums within 10 km103
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00

Where else could you go?

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