VacationSelector
The Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake, Guilin
GuilinThe Sun and Moon pagodas on Shan Lake
The Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower, Shanghai
ShanghaiThe Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower

Photos: Guilin by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Shanghai by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Guilin 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 Guilin for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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

Choose Shanghai for

  • shopping
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

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. Guilin 8, Shanghai 10: Shanghai leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Guilin 45, Shanghai 88: Shanghai leads by 43 points.
Culture & sights. Guilin 40, Shanghai 72: Shanghai leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. Guilin 30, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 50 points.
Nature & outdoors. Guilin 88, Shanghai 25: Guilin leads by 63 points.
Day trips. Guilin 56, Shanghai 90: Shanghai leads by 34 points.
Good for families. Guilin 45, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 35 points.
Getting around. Guilin 45, Shanghai 85: Shanghai leads by 40 points.
Shopping & style. Guilin 28, Shanghai 82: Shanghai leads by 54 points.
Affordability. Guilin 78, Shanghai 55: Guilin leads by 23 points.
Live music & performing arts. Guilin 30, Shanghai 66: Shanghai leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Guilin 40, Shanghai 55: Shanghai leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Guilin and Shanghai.

Your match

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

Guilin
44match

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

Shanghai
Best match
66match

Wins on shopping and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Guilin in July

33 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
248 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
14 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

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
GuilinShanghai

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Guilin: 1991-2020 normals, Guilin (7.6 km from centre). Shanghai: 1991-2020 normals, Shanghai / Hongqiao (8.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGuilinShanghai
Official languagePutonghuaPutonghua
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation153 m4 m
Main airportGuilin Liangjiang International Airport (KWL)25 km from centre43 non-stop destinationsShanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)33 km from centre207 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureGuilinShanghai
City population4,931,13724,870,895
People per km²-3,922
Museums within 10 km145
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Guilin 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. 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. 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.