VacationSelector
The cathedral above the old town, Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de CompostelaThe cathedral above the old town
The Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower, Shanghai
ShanghaiThe Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower

Photos: Santiago de Compostela by Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez (Lmbuga), CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Shanghai by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Santiago de Compostela 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 Santiago de Compostela for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Santiago de Compostela’s own page.

Choose Shanghai for

  • shopping
  • families
  • nightlife

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. Santiago de Compostela 32, Shanghai 10: Santiago de Compostela leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Santiago de Compostela 68, Shanghai 88: Shanghai leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Santiago de Compostela 70, Shanghai 72: Shanghai leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Santiago de Compostela 45, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 35 points.
Nature & outdoors. Santiago de Compostela 62, Shanghai 25: Santiago de Compostela leads by 37 points.
Day trips. Santiago de Compostela 72, Shanghai 90: Shanghai leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Santiago de Compostela 42, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 38 points.
Getting around. Santiago de Compostela 70, Shanghai 85: Shanghai leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Santiago de Compostela 35, Shanghai 82: Shanghai leads by 47 points.
Affordability. Santiago de Compostela 64, Shanghai 55: Santiago de Compostela leads by 9 points.
Live music & performing arts. Santiago de Compostela 40, Shanghai 66: Shanghai leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Santiago de Compostela 42, Shanghai 55: Shanghai leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Santiago de Compostela and Shanghai.

Your match

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

Santiago de Compostela
54match

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

Shanghai
Best match
66match

Wins on shopping and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Santiago de Compostela in July

25 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
41 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
15 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
Santiago de CompostelaShanghai

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Santiago de Compostela: 1991-2020 normals, Santiago / Labacolla (8.4 km from centre). Shanghai: 1991-2020 normals, Shanghai / Hongqiao (8.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSantiago de CompostelaShanghai
Official languageSpanishPutonghua
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation260 m4 m
Main airportSantiago-Rosalía de Castro Airport (SCQ)10 km from centre29 non-stop destinationsShanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)33 km from centre207 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureSantiago de CompostelaShanghai
City population100,96524,870,895
People per km²4593,922
Museums within 10 km645
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
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 Santiago de Compostela 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). 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.