VacationSelector
The Opera House on the fjord, Oslo
OsloThe Opera House on the fjord
The Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower, Shanghai
ShanghaiThe Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower

Photos: Oslo by Beata May, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Shanghai by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Oslo 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 Oslo for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • wellness

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

Choose Shanghai for

  • prices
  • day trips
  • food and drink

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. Oslo 36, Shanghai 10: Oslo leads by 26 points.
Food & drink. Oslo 55, Shanghai 88: Shanghai leads by 33 points.
Culture & sights. Oslo 66, Shanghai 72: Shanghai leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Oslo 48, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Oslo 82, Shanghai 25: Oslo leads by 57 points.
Day trips. Oslo 52, Shanghai 90: Shanghai leads by 38 points.
Good for families. Oslo 63, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Oslo and Shanghai are level on 85.
Shopping & style. Oslo 50, Shanghai 82: Shanghai leads by 32 points.
Affordability. Oslo 14, Shanghai 55: Shanghai leads by 41 points.
Live music & performing arts. Oslo 62, Shanghai 66: Shanghai leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Oslo 60, Shanghai 55: Oslo leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Oslo and Shanghai.

Your match

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

Oslo
56match

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

Shanghai
Best match
66match

Wins on prices and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Oslo in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
86 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
18 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
OsloShanghai

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Oslo: 1991-2020 normals, Oslo-Blindern (4.3 km from centre). Shanghai: 1991-2020 normals, Shanghai / Hongqiao (8.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureOsloShanghai
Official languageNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, SámiPutonghua
CurrencyNorwegian Krone (NOK)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 113, fire 110Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation23 m4 m
Main airportOslo-Gardermoen International Airport (OSL)37 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsShanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)33 km from centre207 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureOsloShanghai
City population717,71024,870,895
People per km²-3,922
Museums within 10 km6045
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone5 months

Where else could you go?

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