VacationSelector
The Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower, Shanghai
ShanghaiThe Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower
Valletta from the water, Valletta
VallettaValletta from the water

Photos: Shanghai by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Valletta by Pho Tomass, Pexels License.

Shanghai or Valletta?

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
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

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

Choose Valletta for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Valletta’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, Valletta 68: Valletta leads by 58 points.
Food & drink. Shanghai 88, Valletta 55: Shanghai leads by 33 points.
Culture & sights. Shanghai 72, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Shanghai 80, Valletta 46: Shanghai leads by 34 points.
Nature & outdoors. Shanghai 25, Valletta 56: Valletta leads by 31 points.
Day trips. Shanghai 90, Valletta 76: Shanghai leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Shanghai 80, Valletta 58: Shanghai leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Shanghai 85, Valletta 62: Shanghai leads by 23 points.
Shopping & style. Shanghai 82, Valletta 38: Shanghai leads by 44 points.
Affordability. Shanghai 55, Valletta 50: Shanghai leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Shanghai 66, Valletta 44: Shanghai leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Shanghai 55, Valletta 32: Shanghai leads by 23 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Shanghai and Valletta.

Your match

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

Shanghai
Best match
66match

Wins on shopping and nightlife with your weighting.

Valletta
55match

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

Valletta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ShanghaiValletta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Shanghai: 1991-2020 normals, Shanghai / Hongqiao (8.1 km from centre). Valletta: 1991-2020 normals, Luqa (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureShanghaiValletta
Official languagePutonghuaEnglish, Maltese
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Euro (EUR)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119112
Elevation4 m56 m
Main airportShanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)33 km from centre207 non-stop destinationsMalta International Airport (MLA)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureShanghaiValletta
City population24,870,8955,197
People per km²3,9226,496
Museums within 10 km4516
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km03
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Shanghai or Valletta 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.