VacationSelector
Turquoise water off Giftun Island, Hurghada
HurghadaTurquoise water off Giftun Island
The Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower, Shanghai
ShanghaiThe Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower

Photos: Hurghada by Andrey Korchagin, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Shanghai by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Hurghada 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 Hurghada for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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

Choose Shanghai for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

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. Hurghada 84, Shanghai 10: Hurghada leads by 74 points.
Food & drink. Hurghada 34, Shanghai 88: Shanghai leads by 54 points.
Culture & sights. Hurghada 14, Shanghai 72: Shanghai leads by 58 points.
Nightlife. Hurghada 40, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 40 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hurghada 72, Shanghai 25: Hurghada leads by 47 points.
Day trips. Hurghada 30, Shanghai 90: Shanghai leads by 60 points.
Good for families. Hurghada 62, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Hurghada 22, Shanghai 85: Shanghai leads by 63 points.
Shopping & style. Hurghada 24, Shanghai 82: Shanghai leads by 58 points.
Affordability. Hurghada 80, Shanghai 55: Hurghada leads by 25 points.
Live music & performing arts. Hurghada 10, Shanghai 66: Shanghai leads by 56 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hurghada 44, Shanghai 55: Shanghai leads by 11 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hurghada and Shanghai.

Your match

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

Hurghada
43match

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

Shanghai
Best match
66match

Wins on getting around and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Hurghada in July

37 °Cdaytime high
28 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
HurghadaShanghai

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Hurghada: 1991-2020 normals, Hurguada (15.2 km from centre). Shanghai: 1991-2020 normals, Shanghai / Hongqiao (8.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHurghadaShanghai
Official languageArabicPutonghua
CurrencyEgyptian Pound (EGP)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 122, ambulance 123, fire 180Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation11 m4 m
Main airportHurghada International Airport (HRG)9 km from centre111 non-stop destinationsShanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)33 km from centre207 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureHurghadaShanghai
City population214,24724,870,895
People per km²-3,922
Museums within 10 km145
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Hurghada 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). 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.