VacationSelector
The Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower, Shanghai
ShanghaiThe Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower
The City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia
ValenciaThe City of Arts and Sciences

Photos: Shanghai by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Valencia by Francesco Ungaro, Pexels License.

Shanghai or Valencia?

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

  • shopping
  • day trips
  • food and drink

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

Choose Valencia for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Valencia’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, Valencia 78: Valencia leads by 68 points.
Food & drink. Shanghai 88, Valencia 74: Shanghai leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Shanghai 72, Valencia 68: Shanghai leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Shanghai 80, Valencia 66: Shanghai leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Shanghai 25, Valencia 60: Valencia leads by 35 points.
Day trips. Shanghai 90, Valencia 70: Shanghai leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Shanghai 80, Valencia 75: Shanghai leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Shanghai 85, Valencia 76: Shanghai leads by 9 points.
Shopping & style. Shanghai 82, Valencia 57: Shanghai leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Shanghai 55, Valencia 57: Valencia leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Shanghai 66, Valencia 55: Shanghai leads by 11 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Shanghai 55, Valencia 42: Shanghai leads by 13 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Shanghai and Valencia.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Shanghai
66match

Wins on shopping and day trips with your weighting.

Valencia
65match

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

Valencia in July

30 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
7 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ShanghaiValencia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Shanghai: 1991-2020 normals, Shanghai / Hongqiao (8.1 km from centre). Valencia: 1991-2020 normals, Valencia (1.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureShanghaiValencia
Official languagePutonghuaSpanish
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Euro (EUR)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119112
Elevation4 m15 m
Main airportShanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)33 km from centre207 non-stop destinationsValencia Airport (VLC)9 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureShanghaiValencia
City population24,870,895840,792
People per km²3,9226,242
Museums within 10 km4545
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Shanghai or Valencia 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.