VacationSelector
The Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower, Shanghai
ShanghaiThe Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower
Taipei 101 and the skyline from Elephant Mountain, Taipei
TaipeiTaipei 101 and the skyline from Elephant Mountain

Photos: Shanghai by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Taipei by Another Believer, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Shanghai or Taipei?

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 Shanghai for

  • nightlife
  • day trips
  • shopping

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

Choose Taipei for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Taipei’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. Shanghai 10, Taipei 40: Taipei leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Shanghai and Taipei are level on 88.
Culture & sights. Shanghai 72, Taipei 68: Shanghai leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Shanghai 80, Taipei 58: Shanghai leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Shanghai 25, Taipei 78: Taipei leads by 53 points.
Day trips. Shanghai 90, Taipei 76: Shanghai leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Shanghai 80, Taipei 72: Shanghai leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Shanghai 85, Taipei 86: Taipei leads by 1 points.
Shopping & style. Shanghai 82, Taipei 70: Shanghai leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Shanghai 55, Taipei 66: Taipei leads by 11 points.
Live music & performing arts. Shanghai 66, Taipei 55: Shanghai leads by 11 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Shanghai 55, Taipei 80: Taipei leads by 25 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Shanghai and Taipei.

Your match

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

Shanghai
66match

Wins on nightlife and day trips with your weighting.

Taipei
Best match
70match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

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

Taipei in July

35 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
288 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ShanghaiTaipei

Where the figures come from

Taipei 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. Shanghai: 1991-2020 normals, Shanghai / Hongqiao (8.1 km from centre). Taipei: 1992-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Sungshan / Taipei (3.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureShanghaiTaipei
Official languagePutonghuaTaiwanese Sign Language, Amis, Taiwanese Hokkien, Rukai, Bunun, Kanakanavu, Standard Taiwanese Mandarin, Paiwan, Yami, Atayal, Saaroa, Kavalan, Tsou, Seediq, Puyuma, Saisiyat, Sakizaya, Taiwanese Hakka, Truku, Matsu dialect, Kinmen dialect, Wuqiu dialect
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)New Taiwan Dollar (TWD)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119110 or 112 or 119
Elevation4 m10 m
Main airportShanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)33 km from centre207 non-stop destinationsTaiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE)33 km from centre
Public holidays this year6 days-

By the numbers

MeasureShanghaiTaipei
City population24,870,8952,429,429
People per km²3,9228,938
Museums within 10 km4569
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months8 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Shanghai or Taipei 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.