VacationSelector
The Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower, Shanghai
ShanghaiThe Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower
The old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river, Tampa
TampaThe old Tampa Bay Hotel across the river

Photos: Shanghai by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Tampa by Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Shanghai or Tampa?

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

  • getting around
  • shopping
  • day trips

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

Choose Tampa for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Tampa’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, Tampa 70: Tampa leads by 60 points.
Food & drink. Shanghai 88, Tampa 57: Shanghai leads by 31 points.
Culture & sights. Shanghai 72, Tampa 42: Shanghai leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Shanghai 80, Tampa 52: Shanghai leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Shanghai 25, Tampa 55: Tampa leads by 30 points.
Day trips. Shanghai 90, Tampa 54: Shanghai leads by 36 points.
Good for families. Shanghai 80, Tampa 78: Shanghai leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Shanghai 85, Tampa 22: Shanghai leads by 63 points.
Shopping & style. Shanghai 82, Tampa 40: Shanghai leads by 42 points.
Affordability. Shanghai 55, Tampa 40: Shanghai leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Shanghai 66, Tampa 47: Shanghai leads by 19 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Shanghai 55, Tampa 30: Shanghai leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Shanghai and Tampa.

Your match

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

Shanghai
Best match
66match

Wins on getting around and shopping with your weighting.

Tampa
49match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors 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

Tampa in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
197 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ShanghaiTampa

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Shanghai: 1991-2020 normals, Shanghai / Hongqiao (8.1 km from centre). Tampa: 1991-2020 normals, Tampa International Airport (7.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureShanghaiTampa
Official languagePutonghua-
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119911
Elevation4 m30 m
Main airportShanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)33 km from centre207 non-stop destinationsTampa International Airport (TPA)8 km from centre101 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureShanghaiTampa
City population24,870,895384,959
People per km²3,922848
Museums within 10 km456
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 Tampa 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.