VacationSelector
The Anshun Bridge over the Jin River, Chengdu
ChengduThe Anshun Bridge over the Jin River
The old railway depot in the snow, Steamboat Springs
Steamboat SpringsThe old railway depot in the snow

Photos: Chengdu by TurnOnTheNight, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Steamboat Springs by Jeffrey Beall, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Chengdu or Steamboat 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

  • day trips
  • prices
  • food and drink

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

Choose Steamboat Springs for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Steamboat 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, Steamboat Springs 7: Steamboat Springs leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Chengdu 86, Steamboat Springs 30: Chengdu leads by 56 points.
Culture & sights. Chengdu 60, Steamboat Springs 14: Chengdu leads by 46 points.
Nightlife. Chengdu 68, Steamboat Springs 20: Chengdu leads by 48 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chengdu 68, Steamboat Springs 88: Steamboat Springs leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Chengdu 80, Steamboat Springs 12: Chengdu leads by 68 points.
Good for families. Chengdu 65, Steamboat Springs 62: Chengdu leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Chengdu 74, Steamboat Springs 46: Chengdu leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Chengdu 64, Steamboat Springs 22: Chengdu leads by 42 points.
Affordability. Chengdu 80, Steamboat Springs 17: Chengdu leads by 63 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chengdu 50, Steamboat Springs 28: Chengdu leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chengdu 58, Steamboat Springs 70: Steamboat Springs leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chengdu and Steamboat Springs.

Your match

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

Chengdu
Best match
63match

Wins on day trips and prices with your weighting.

Steamboat Springs
35match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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
14 hdaylight a day

Steamboat Springs in July

28 °Cdaytime high
10 °Cnight-time low
31 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ChengduSteamboat Springs

Where the figures come from

Steamboat 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). Steamboat Springs: 2011-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Steamboat Springs / Steamboat Ii (5.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChengduSteamboat Springs
Official languagePutonghua-
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-7, UTC-6 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119911
Elevation500 m2,052 m
Main airportChengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU)16 km from centre77 non-stop destinationsYampa Valley Airport (HDN)33 km from centre17 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureChengduSteamboat Springs
City population20,937,75713,224
People per km²1,456503
Museums within 10 km100
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 Steamboat 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.