VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
The Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower, Shanghai
ShanghaiThe Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Shanghai by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Chicago or Shanghai?

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 Chicago for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Shanghai for

  • day trips
  • prices
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Shanghai’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. Chicago 50, Shanghai 10: Chicago leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Shanghai 88: Shanghai leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Shanghai 72: Chicago leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Shanghai 25: Chicago leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Shanghai 90: Shanghai leads by 48 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Shanghai 85: Shanghai leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Shanghai 82: Shanghai leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Shanghai 55: Shanghai leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Shanghai 66: Chicago leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Shanghai 55: Shanghai leads by 22 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chicago and Shanghai.

Your match

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

Chicago
62match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Shanghai
Best match
66match

Wins on day trips and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Chicago in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
102 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Shanghai in July

33 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
151 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ChicagoShanghai

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Shanghai: 1991-2020 normals, Shanghai / Hongqiao (8.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoShanghai
Official language-Putonghua
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number911Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation179 m4 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsShanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)33 km from centre207 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoShanghai
City population2,746,38824,870,895
People per km²4,5293,922
Museums within 10 km4445
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chicago or Shanghai 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.