VacationSelector
The Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower, Shanghai
ShanghaiThe Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower
The Croatian National Theatre, Zagreb
ZagrebThe Croatian National Theatre

Photos: Shanghai by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Zagreb by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Shanghai or Zagreb?

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
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

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

Choose Zagreb for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Zagreb’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 and Zagreb are level on 10.
Food & drink. Shanghai 88, Zagreb 55: Shanghai leads by 33 points.
Culture & sights. Shanghai 72, Zagreb 56: Shanghai leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Shanghai 80, Zagreb 47: Shanghai leads by 33 points.
Nature & outdoors. Shanghai 25, Zagreb 62: Zagreb leads by 37 points.
Day trips. Shanghai 90, Zagreb 60: Shanghai leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Shanghai 80, Zagreb 52: Shanghai leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Shanghai 85, Zagreb 70: Shanghai leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Shanghai 82, Zagreb 40: Shanghai leads by 42 points.
Affordability. Shanghai 55, Zagreb 60: Zagreb leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Shanghai 66, Zagreb 52: Shanghai leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Shanghai 55, Zagreb 33: Shanghai leads by 22 points.
0255075100

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

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 food and drink with your weighting.

Zagreb
50match

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

Zagreb in July

29 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ShanghaiZagreb

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Shanghai: 1991-2020 normals, Shanghai / Hongqiao (8.1 km from centre). Zagreb: 1991-2020 normals, Zagreb / Gric (0.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureShanghaiZagreb
Official languagePutonghuaCroatian
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 m127 m
Main airportShanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)33 km from centre207 non-stop destinationsZagreb Franjo Tuđman International Airport (ZAG)11 km from centre64 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureShanghaiZagreb
City population24,870,895767,131
People per km²3,922-
Museums within 10 km4527
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Zagreb 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.