VacationSelector
The golden Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem
JerusalemThe golden Dome of the Rock
The Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower, Shanghai
ShanghaiThe Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower

Photos: Jerusalem by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License; Shanghai by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Jerusalem 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 Jerusalem for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Shanghai for

  • nightlife
  • prices
  • shopping

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. Jerusalem 40, Shanghai 10: Jerusalem leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Jerusalem 66, Shanghai 88: Shanghai leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Jerusalem 92, Shanghai 72: Jerusalem leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Jerusalem 38, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 42 points.
Nature & outdoors. Jerusalem 60, Shanghai 25: Jerusalem leads by 35 points.
Day trips. Jerusalem 80, Shanghai 90: Shanghai leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Jerusalem 52, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Jerusalem 55, Shanghai 85: Shanghai leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Jerusalem 48, Shanghai 82: Shanghai leads by 34 points.
Affordability. Jerusalem 20, Shanghai 55: Shanghai leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Jerusalem 40, Shanghai 66: Shanghai leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Jerusalem 42, Shanghai 55: Shanghai leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Jerusalem and Shanghai.

Your match

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

Jerusalem
53match

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

Shanghai
Best match
66match

Wins on nightlife and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Jerusalem in July

30 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
27 °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
JerusalemShanghai

Where the figures come from

Jerusalem has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Jerusalem: 1991-2020 normals, Jerusalem (1.8 km from centre). Shanghai: 1991-2020 normals, Shanghai / Hongqiao (8.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJerusalemShanghai
Official languageHebrewPutonghua
CurrencyNew Israeli Sheqel (ILS)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCHM230 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 100, fire 102Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation754 m4 m
Main airportBen Gurion International Airport (TLV)42 km from centre111 non-stop destinationsShanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)33 km from centre207 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-6 days

By the numbers

MeasureJerusalemShanghai
City population1,050,15124,870,895
People per km²8,3743,922
Museums within 10 km6945
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km70
Swim season, months above 21 °C7 months5 months

Where else could you go?

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