VacationSelector
The Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower, Shanghai
ShanghaiThe Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower
Castle Square and the Royal Castle, Warsaw
WarsawCastle Square and the Royal Castle

Photos: Shanghai by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Warsaw by Raymond Petrik, Pexels License.

Shanghai or Warsaw?

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

  • day trips
  • food and drink
  • shopping

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

Choose Warsaw for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Warsaw’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, Warsaw 12: Warsaw leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Shanghai 88, Warsaw 60: Shanghai leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. Shanghai 72, Warsaw 70: Shanghai leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Shanghai 80, Warsaw 66: Shanghai leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Shanghai 25, Warsaw 47: Warsaw leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Shanghai 90, Warsaw 52: Shanghai leads by 38 points.
Good for families. Shanghai 80, Warsaw 62: Shanghai leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Shanghai 85, Warsaw 72: Shanghai leads by 13 points.
Shopping & style. Shanghai 82, Warsaw 55: Shanghai leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Shanghai 55, Warsaw 64: Warsaw leads by 9 points.
Live music & performing arts. Shanghai 66, Warsaw 63: Shanghai leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Shanghai 55, Warsaw 35: Shanghai leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Shanghai and Warsaw.

Your match

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

Shanghai
Best match
66match

Wins on day trips and food and drink with your weighting.

Warsaw
55match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and prices 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

Warsaw in July

25 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
83 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ShanghaiWarsaw

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Shanghai: 1991-2020 normals, Shanghai / Hongqiao (8.1 km from centre). Warsaw: 1991-2020 normals, Warszawa-Okecie (7.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureShanghaiWarsaw
Official languagePutonghuaPolish
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Zloty (PLN)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119112
Elevation4 m118 m
Main airportShanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)33 km from centre207 non-stop destinationsWarsaw Chopin Airport (WAW)8 km from centre172 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureShanghaiWarsaw
City population24,870,8951,862,402
People per km²3,9223,601
Museums within 10 km45117
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months-

Where else could you go?

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