VacationSelector
Punta del Este
The Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower, Shanghai
ShanghaiThe Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower

Photos: Shanghai by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Punta del Este 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 Punta del Este for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Punta del Este’s own page.

Choose Shanghai for

  • culture and sights
  • getting around
  • day trips

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. Punta del Este 72, Shanghai 10: Punta del Este leads by 62 points.
Food & drink. Punta del Este 45, Shanghai 88: Shanghai leads by 43 points.
Culture & sights. Punta del Este 22, Shanghai 72: Shanghai leads by 50 points.
Nightlife. Punta del Este 60, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Punta del Este 55, Shanghai 25: Punta del Este leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Punta del Este 45, Shanghai 90: Shanghai leads by 45 points.
Good for families. Punta del Este 55, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Punta del Este 35, Shanghai 85: Shanghai leads by 50 points.
Shopping & style. Punta del Este 42, Shanghai 82: Shanghai leads by 40 points.
Affordability. Punta del Este 20, Shanghai 55: Shanghai leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Punta del Este 22, Shanghai 66: Shanghai leads by 44 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Punta del Este 32, Shanghai 55: Shanghai leads by 23 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Punta del Este and Shanghai.

Your match

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

Punta del Este
42match

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

Shanghai
Best match
66match

Wins on culture and sights 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.

Punta del Este in July

15 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
101 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
10 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
Punta del EsteShanghai

Where the figures come from

Punta del Este's temperatures are measured 79 km from the centre, at Rocha.

Punta del Este 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. Punta del Este: 1991-2020 normals, Rocha (78.5 km from centre). Shanghai: 1991-2020 normals, Shanghai / Hongqiao (8.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasurePunta del EsteShanghai
Official language-Putonghua
CurrencyPeso Uruguayo (UYU)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCFIL230 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC+8
Emergency number911Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation11 m4 m
Main airportCapitan Corbeta CA Curbelo International Airport (PDP)18 km from centre6 non-stop destinationsShanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)33 km from centre207 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasurePunta del EsteShanghai
City population9,27724,870,895
People per km²4553,922
Museums within 10 km545
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Punta del Este 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.