VacationSelector
The Anshun Bridge over the Jin River, Chengdu
ChengduThe Anshun Bridge over the Jin River
The White Tower from the promenade, Thessaloniki
ThessalonikiThe White Tower from the promenade

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

Chengdu or Thessaloniki?

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

  • wellness
  • families
  • getting around

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

Choose Thessaloniki for

  • beaches
  • culture and sights
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Thessaloniki’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, Thessaloniki 55: Thessaloniki leads by 50 points.
Food & drink. Chengdu 86, Thessaloniki 77: Chengdu leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Chengdu 60, Thessaloniki 73: Thessaloniki leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Chengdu 68, Thessaloniki 76: Thessaloniki leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chengdu 68, Thessaloniki 66: Chengdu leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Chengdu 80, Thessaloniki 74: Chengdu leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Chengdu 65, Thessaloniki 50: Chengdu leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Chengdu 74, Thessaloniki 60: Chengdu leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Chengdu 64, Thessaloniki 50: Chengdu leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Chengdu 80, Thessaloniki 66: Chengdu leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chengdu 50, Thessaloniki 52: Thessaloniki leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chengdu 58, Thessaloniki 33: Chengdu leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chengdu and Thessaloniki.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Chengdu
63match

Wins on wellness and families with your weighting.

Thessaloniki
61match

Wins on beaches and culture and sights 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

Thessaloniki in July

32 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ChengduThessaloniki

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chengdu: 1991-2020 normals, Chengdu (4.5 km from centre). Thessaloniki: 1991-2020 normals, Thessaloniki Airport (14 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChengduThessaloniki
Official languagePutonghuaGreek
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Euro (EUR)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119112
Elevation500 m6 m
Main airportChengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU)16 km from centre77 non-stop destinationsThessaloniki Macedonia International Airport (SKG)14 km from centre90 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureChengduThessaloniki
City population20,937,757309,617
People per km²1,45616,042
Museums within 10 km1032
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Thessaloniki 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.