VacationSelector
The Anshun Bridge over the Jin River, Chengdu
ChengduThe Anshun Bridge over the Jin River
Cliff-top hotels above the harbour, Sorrento
SorrentoCliff-top hotels above the harbour

Photos: Chengdu by TurnOnTheNight, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Sorrento by Berthold Werner, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Chengdu or Sorrento?

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
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Sorrento for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Sorrento’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, Sorrento 60: Sorrento leads by 55 points.
Food & drink. Chengdu 86, Sorrento 60: Chengdu leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Chengdu 60, Sorrento 32: Chengdu leads by 28 points.
Nightlife. Chengdu 68, Sorrento 28: Chengdu leads by 40 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chengdu 68, Sorrento 80: Sorrento leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Chengdu 80, Sorrento 95: Sorrento leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Chengdu 65, Sorrento 42: Chengdu leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Chengdu 74, Sorrento 58: Chengdu leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Chengdu 64, Sorrento 38: Chengdu leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Chengdu 80, Sorrento 32: Chengdu leads by 48 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chengdu 50, Sorrento 20: Chengdu leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chengdu 58, Sorrento 48: Chengdu leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chengdu and Sorrento.

Your match

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

Chengdu
Best match
63match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Sorrento
49match

Wins on beaches and day trips 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

Sorrento in July

29 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
21 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ChengduSorrento

Where the figures come from

Sorrento 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.

Sorrento's sunshine is measured 54 km from the centre, at Grazzanise.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chengdu: 1991-2020 normals, Chengdu (4.5 km from centre). Sorrento: 2005-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Capri (17 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChengduSorrento
Official languagePutonghuaItalian
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Euro (EUR)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119112
Elevation500 m50 m
Main airportChengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU)16 km from centre77 non-stop destinationsNaples International Airport (NAP)30 km from centre131 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureChengduSorrento
City population20,937,75715,407
People per km²1,4561,541
Museums within 10 km106
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km05
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

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