VacationSelector
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
IstanbulThe Blue Mosque
The Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower, Shanghai
ShanghaiThe Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower

Photos: Istanbul by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Shanghai by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Istanbul 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 Istanbul for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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

Choose Shanghai for

  • day trips
  • families
  • getting around

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. Istanbul 45, Shanghai 10: Istanbul leads by 35 points.
Food & drink. Istanbul 87, Shanghai 88: Shanghai leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Istanbul 90, Shanghai 72: Istanbul leads by 18 points.
Nightlife. Istanbul 77, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Istanbul 52, Shanghai 25: Istanbul leads by 27 points.
Day trips. Istanbul 55, Shanghai 90: Shanghai leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Istanbul 55, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Istanbul 62, Shanghai 85: Shanghai leads by 23 points.
Shopping & style. Istanbul 86, Shanghai 82: Istanbul leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Istanbul 60, Shanghai 55: Istanbul leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Istanbul 62, Shanghai 66: Shanghai leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Istanbul 75, Shanghai 55: Istanbul leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Istanbul and Shanghai.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Istanbul
67match

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

Shanghai
66match

Wins on day trips and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Istanbul in July

30 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
23 °Csea
15 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
IstanbulShanghai

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Istanbul: 1991-2020 normals, Istanbul / Goztepe (9.9 km from centre). Shanghai: 1991-2020 normals, Shanghai / Hongqiao (8.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureIstanbulShanghai
Official languageTurkishPutonghua
CurrencyTurkish Lira (TRY)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+8
Emergency number112Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation100 m4 m
Main airportİstanbul Airport (IST)36 km from centre343 non-stop destinationsShanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)33 km from centre207 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureIstanbulShanghai
City population15,655,92424,870,895
People per km²2,9303,922
Museums within 10 km7345
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Istanbul 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). 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.