VacationSelector
Camelback Mountain above the city, Scottsdale
ScottsdaleCamelback Mountain above the city
The Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower, Shanghai
ShanghaiThe Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower

Photos: Scottsdale by Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Shanghai by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Scottsdale 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 Scottsdale for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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

Choose Shanghai for

  • getting around
  • food and drink
  • 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. Scottsdale 8, Shanghai 10: Shanghai leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Scottsdale 46, Shanghai 88: Shanghai leads by 42 points.
Culture & sights. Scottsdale 38, Shanghai 72: Shanghai leads by 34 points.
Nightlife. Scottsdale 52, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Scottsdale 68, Shanghai 25: Scottsdale leads by 43 points.
Day trips. Scottsdale 50, Shanghai 90: Shanghai leads by 40 points.
Good for families. Scottsdale 60, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Scottsdale 20, Shanghai 85: Shanghai leads by 65 points.
Shopping & style. Scottsdale 60, Shanghai 82: Shanghai leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Scottsdale 32, Shanghai 55: Shanghai leads by 23 points.
Live music & performing arts. Scottsdale 40, Shanghai 66: Shanghai leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Scottsdale 72, Shanghai 55: Scottsdale leads by 17 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Scottsdale and Shanghai.

Your match

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

Scottsdale
46match

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

Shanghai
Best match
66match

Wins on getting around and food and drink with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Scottsdale in July

41 °Cdaytime high
29 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
No seasea
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°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ScottsdaleShanghai

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Scottsdale: 1991-2020 normals, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (13.3 km from centre). Shanghai: 1991-2020 normals, Shanghai / Hongqiao (8.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureScottsdaleShanghai
Official language-Putonghua
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-7UTC+8
Emergency number911Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation380 m4 m
Main airportPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)10 km from centre148 non-stop destinationsShanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)33 km from centre207 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureScottsdaleShanghai
City population241,36124,870,895
People per km²-3,922
Museums within 10 km1045
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Scottsdale 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. 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.