VacationSelector
The Japanese Covered Bridge, Hoi An
Hoi AnThe Japanese Covered Bridge
The Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower, Shanghai
ShanghaiThe Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower

Photos: Hoi An by François Guerraz, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Shanghai by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Hoi An 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 Hoi An for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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

Choose Shanghai for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

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. Hoi An 72, Shanghai 10: Hoi An leads by 62 points.
Food & drink. Hoi An 68, Shanghai 88: Shanghai leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Hoi An 66, Shanghai 72: Shanghai leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Hoi An 28, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 52 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hoi An 63, Shanghai 25: Hoi An leads by 38 points.
Day trips. Hoi An 50, Shanghai 90: Shanghai leads by 40 points.
Good for families. Hoi An 58, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Hoi An 48, Shanghai 85: Shanghai leads by 37 points.
Shopping & style. Hoi An 57, Shanghai 82: Shanghai leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Hoi An 88, Shanghai 55: Hoi An leads by 33 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hoi An 24, Shanghai 66: Shanghai leads by 42 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hoi An 65, Shanghai 55: Hoi An leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hoi An and Shanghai.

Your match

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

Hoi An
57match

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

Shanghai
Best match
66match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Hoi An in July

35 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
83 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 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

0200400600800JFMAMJJASOND
Hoi AnShanghai

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Hoi An: 1991-2020 normals, Da Nang (23.5 km from centre). Shanghai: 1991-2020 normals, Shanghai / Hongqiao (8.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHoi AnShanghai
Official languageVietnamesePutonghua
CurrencyDong (VND)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsACFG220 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 113, ambulance 115, fire 114Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation13 m4 m
Main airportDa Nang International Airport (DAD)23 km from centre47 non-stop destinationsShanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)33 km from centre207 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-6 days

By the numbers

MeasureHoi AnShanghai
City population121,71624,870,895
People per km²-3,922
Museums within 10 km545
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Hoi An 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). 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.