VacationSelector
The Anshun Bridge over the Jin River, Chengdu
ChengduThe Anshun Bridge over the Jin River
The old Bath House in the Government Gardens, Rotorua
RotoruaThe old Bath House in the Government Gardens

Photos: Chengdu by TurnOnTheNight, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Rotorua by W. Bulach, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Chengdu or Rotorua?

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

  • nightlife
  • food and drink
  • getting around

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

Choose Rotorua for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Rotorua’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, Rotorua 33: Rotorua leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Chengdu 86, Rotorua 33: Chengdu leads by 53 points.
Culture & sights. Chengdu 60, Rotorua 38: Chengdu leads by 22 points.
Nightlife. Chengdu 68, Rotorua 14: Chengdu leads by 54 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chengdu 68, Rotorua 86: Rotorua leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Chengdu 80, Rotorua 45: Chengdu leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Chengdu 65, Rotorua 68: Rotorua leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Chengdu 74, Rotorua 30: Chengdu leads by 44 points.
Shopping & style. Chengdu 64, Rotorua 22: Chengdu leads by 42 points.
Affordability. Chengdu 80, Rotorua 36: Chengdu leads by 44 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chengdu 50, Rotorua 30: Chengdu leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chengdu 58, Rotorua 86: Rotorua leads by 28 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Chengdu
Best match
63match

Wins on nightlife and food and drink with your weighting.

Rotorua
43match

Wins on beaches and wellness 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

Rotorua in July

11 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
113 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ChengduRotorua

Where the figures come from

Rotorua has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chengdu: 1991-2020 normals, Chengdu (4.5 km from centre). Rotorua: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureChengduRotorua
Official languagePutonghuaEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119111
Elevation500 m280 m
Main airportChengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU)16 km from centre77 non-stop destinationsRotorua Regional Airport (ROT)7 km from centre3 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureChengduRotorua
City population20,937,75758,500
People per km²1,45622
Museums within 10 km101
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Rotorua 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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.