VacationSelector
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor
The Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower, Shanghai
ShanghaiThe Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower

Photos: Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Shanghai by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Lima 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 Lima for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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

Choose Shanghai for

  • day trips
  • 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. Lima 42, Shanghai 10: Lima leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Lima and Shanghai are level on 88.
Culture & sights. Lima 66, Shanghai 72: Shanghai leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Lima 62, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lima 45, Shanghai 25: Lima leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Lima 34, Shanghai 90: Shanghai leads by 56 points.
Good for families. Lima 42, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 38 points.
Getting around. Lima 35, Shanghai 85: Shanghai leads by 50 points.
Shopping & style. Lima 52, Shanghai 82: Shanghai leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Lima 70, Shanghai 55: Lima leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lima 53, Shanghai 66: Shanghai leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lima 25, Shanghai 55: Shanghai leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lima and Shanghai.

Your match

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

Lima
51match

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

Shanghai
Best match
66match

Wins on day trips 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.

Lima in July

19 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
1 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
12 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
LimaShanghai

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lima: 1991-2020 normals, Lima-Callao / Aerop. Internacional Jorgechavez (10.9 km from centre). Shanghai: 1991-2020 normals, Shanghai / Hongqiao (8.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLimaShanghai
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaPutonghua
CurrencySol (PEN)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+8
Emergency number111 or 911Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation154 m4 m
Main airportJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinationsShanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)33 km from centre207 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureLimaShanghai
City population9,943,80024,870,895
People per km²3,7213,922
Museums within 10 km4745
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months5 months

Where else could you go?

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