VacationSelector
The Anshun Bridge over the Jin River, Chengdu
ChengduThe Anshun Bridge over the Jin River
The Riva in front of Diocletian's Palace, Split
SplitThe Riva in front of Diocletian's Palace

Photos: Chengdu by TurnOnTheNight, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Split by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Chengdu or Split?

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
  • shopping
  • food and drink

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

Choose Split for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Split’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, Split 75: Split leads by 70 points.
Food & drink. Chengdu 86, Split 57: Chengdu leads by 29 points.
Culture & sights. Chengdu 60, Split 66: Split leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Chengdu 68, Split 52: Chengdu leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chengdu 68, Split 77: Split leads by 9 points.
Day trips. Chengdu 80, Split 78: Chengdu leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Chengdu 65, Split 54: Chengdu leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Chengdu 74, Split 67: Chengdu leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Chengdu 64, Split 32: Chengdu leads by 32 points.
Affordability. Chengdu 80, Split 45: Chengdu leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chengdu 50, Split 37: Chengdu leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chengdu 58, Split 40: Chengdu leads by 18 points.
0255075100

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

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 shopping with your weighting.

Split
57match

Wins on beaches 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
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Split in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
25 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ChengduSplit

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chengdu: 1991-2020 normals, Chengdu (4.5 km from centre). Split: 1991-2020 normals, Split / Marjan (0.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChengduSplit
Official languagePutonghuaCroatian
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Euro (EUR)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119112
Elevation500 m0 m
Main airportChengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU)16 km from centre77 non-stop destinationsSplit Saint Jerome Airport (SPU)12 km from centre69 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureChengduSplit
City population20,937,757160,577
People per km²1,456-
Museums within 10 km1011
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km04
Swim season, months above 21 °C-4 months

Where else could you go?

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