VacationSelector
Shitennō-ji temple, Osaka
OsakaShitennō-ji temple
The Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower, Shanghai
ShanghaiThe Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower

Photos: Osaka by Sarmat Batagov, Pexels License; Shanghai by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Osaka 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 Osaka for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • wellness

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

Choose Shanghai for

  • culture and sights
  • 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. Osaka 34, Shanghai 10: Osaka leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Osaka 91, Shanghai 88: Osaka leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Osaka 63, Shanghai 72: Shanghai leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Osaka and Shanghai are level on 80.
Nature & outdoors. Osaka 58, Shanghai 25: Osaka leads by 33 points.
Day trips. Osaka 97, Shanghai 90: Osaka leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Osaka 88, Shanghai 80: Osaka leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Osaka 90, Shanghai 85: Osaka leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Osaka 80, Shanghai 82: Shanghai leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Osaka 60, Shanghai 55: Osaka leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Osaka and Shanghai are level on 66.
Wellness & relaxation. Osaka 66, Shanghai 55: Osaka leads by 11 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Osaka and Shanghai.

Your match

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

Osaka
Best match
73match

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

Shanghai
66match

Wins on culture and sights and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Osaka in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
175 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
OsakaShanghai

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

Before you go

MeasureOsakaShanghai
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
Elevation20 m4 m
Main airportKansai International Airport (KIX)38 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

MeasureOsakaShanghai
City population2,751,86224,870,895
People per km²12,3403,922
Museums within 10 km4445
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km60
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 Osaka 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). 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.