VacationSelector
The Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower, Shanghai
ShanghaiThe Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: Shanghai by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Shanghai or Zurich?

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

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

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

Choose Zurich for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Zurich’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, Zurich 45: Zurich leads by 35 points.
Food & drink. Shanghai 88, Zurich 53: Shanghai leads by 35 points.
Culture & sights. Shanghai 72, Zurich 58: Shanghai leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Shanghai 80, Zurich 62: Shanghai leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Shanghai 25, Zurich 80: Zurich leads by 55 points.
Day trips. Shanghai 90, Zurich 84: Shanghai leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Shanghai 80, Zurich 76: Shanghai leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Shanghai 85, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Shanghai 82, Zurich 66: Shanghai leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Shanghai 55, Zurich 3: Shanghai leads by 52 points.
Live music & performing arts. Shanghai 66, Zurich 70: Zurich leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Shanghai 55, Zurich 58: Zurich leads by 3 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Shanghai and Zurich.

Your match

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

Shanghai
Best match
66match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Zurich
63match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches 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

Zurich in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
ShanghaiZurich

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Shanghai: 1991-2020 normals, Shanghai / Hongqiao (8.1 km from centre). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureShanghaiZurich
Official languagePutonghuaFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119112
Elevation4 m408 m
Main airportShanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)33 km from centre207 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureShanghaiZurich
City population24,870,895440,935
People per km²3,9225,016
Museums within 10 km4563
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 Zurich 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.