VacationSelector
The pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto
KyotoThe pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera
The Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower, Shanghai
ShanghaiThe Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower

Photos: Kyoto by Bert Mulder, Pexels License; Shanghai by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Kyoto 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 Kyoto for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights
  • wellness

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

Choose Shanghai for

  • nightlife
  • getting around
  • families

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. Kyoto 15, Shanghai 10: Kyoto leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Kyoto 85, Shanghai 88: Shanghai leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Kyoto 96, Shanghai 72: Kyoto leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Kyoto 35, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 45 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kyoto 70, Shanghai 25: Kyoto leads by 45 points.
Day trips. Kyoto 96, Shanghai 90: Kyoto leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Kyoto 68, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Kyoto 72, Shanghai 85: Shanghai leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. Kyoto 72, Shanghai 82: Shanghai leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Kyoto 50, Shanghai 55: Shanghai leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kyoto 60, Shanghai 66: Shanghai leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kyoto 70, Shanghai 55: Kyoto leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Kyoto and Shanghai.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Kyoto
66match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and culture and sights with your weighting.

Shanghai
66match

Wins on nightlife and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Kyoto in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
225 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °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
KyotoShanghai

Where the figures come from

Kyoto's sunshine is measured 43 km from the centre, at Osaka.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Kyoto: 1971-2000 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Kyoto (3.2 km from centre). Shanghai: 1991-2020 normals, Shanghai / Hongqiao (8.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKyotoShanghai
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
Elevation51 m4 m
Main airportKansai International Airport (KIX)81 km from centre62 non-stop destinationsShanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)33 km from centre207 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureKyotoShanghai
City population1,463,72324,870,895
People per km²1,7683,922
Museums within 10 km7745
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km40
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months5 months

Where else could you go?

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