VacationSelector
The floating torii of Itsukushima at Miyajima, Hiroshima
HiroshimaThe floating torii of Itsukushima at Miyajima
The Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower, Shanghai
ShanghaiThe Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower

Photos: Hiroshima by Guohua Song, Pexels License; Shanghai by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Hiroshima 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 Hiroshima for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • prices

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

Choose Shanghai for

  • nightlife
  • shopping
  • live music and the arts

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. Hiroshima 30, Shanghai 10: Hiroshima leads by 20 points.
Food & drink. Hiroshima 66, Shanghai 88: Shanghai leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Hiroshima 60, Shanghai 72: Shanghai leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Hiroshima 45, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 35 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hiroshima 62, Shanghai 25: Hiroshima leads by 37 points.
Day trips. Hiroshima 80, Shanghai 90: Shanghai leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Hiroshima 60, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Hiroshima 74, Shanghai 85: Shanghai leads by 11 points.
Shopping & style. Hiroshima 52, Shanghai 82: Shanghai leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Hiroshima 58, Shanghai 55: Hiroshima leads by 3 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hiroshima 38, Shanghai 66: Shanghai leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hiroshima 50, Shanghai 55: Shanghai leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hiroshima and Shanghai.

Your match

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

Hiroshima
56match

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

Shanghai
Best match
66match

Wins on nightlife and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Hiroshima in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
299 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
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

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
HiroshimaShanghai

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Hiroshima: 1991-2020 normals, Hiroshima (1.7 km from centre). Shanghai: 1991-2020 normals, Shanghai / Hongqiao (8.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHiroshimaShanghai
Official languageJapanesePutonghua
CurrencyYen (JPY)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation3 m4 m
Main airportHiroshima Airport (HIJ)43 km from centre10 non-stop destinationsShanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)33 km from centre207 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureHiroshimaShanghai
City population1,198,02124,870,895
People per km²1,3243,922
Museums within 10 km1845
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Hiroshima or Shanghai somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national 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.