VacationSelector
The Campanile, Trinity College, Dublin
DublinThe Campanile, Trinity College
The Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower, Shanghai
ShanghaiThe Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower

Photos: Dublin by David Kernan, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Shanghai by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Dublin 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 Dublin for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

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

Choose Shanghai for

  • food and drink
  • 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. Dublin 27, Shanghai 10: Dublin leads by 17 points.
Food & drink. Dublin 50, Shanghai 88: Shanghai leads by 38 points.
Culture & sights. Dublin 64, Shanghai 72: Shanghai leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Dublin 62, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Dublin 70, Shanghai 25: Dublin leads by 45 points.
Day trips. Dublin 72, Shanghai 90: Shanghai leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Dublin 57, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Dublin 66, Shanghai 85: Shanghai leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Dublin 54, Shanghai 82: Shanghai leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Dublin 20, Shanghai 55: Shanghai leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Dublin 65, Shanghai 66: Shanghai leads by 1 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Dublin 25, Shanghai 55: Shanghai leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Dublin and Shanghai.

Your match

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

Dublin
53match

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

Shanghai
Best match
66match

Wins on food and drink 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.

Dublin in July

20 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
62 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
15 °Csea
17 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
DublinShanghai

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Dublin: 1991-2020 normals, Dublin Airport (9.3 km from centre). Shanghai: 1991-2020 normals, Shanghai / Hongqiao (8.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDublinShanghai
Official languageEnglish, IrishPutonghua
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation20 m4 m
Main airportDublin Airport (DUB)9 km from centre200 non-stop destinationsShanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)33 km from centre207 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureDublinShanghai
City population592,71324,870,895
People per km²5,1543,922
Museums within 10 km4045
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Dublin 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.