VacationSelector
The Texas State Capitol under a blue sky, Austin
AustinThe Texas State Capitol under a blue sky
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

Photos: Austin by LoneStarMike, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Xi'an by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Austin or Xi'an?

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 Austin for

  • live music and the arts
  • beaches
  • nightlife

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

Choose Xi'an for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Xi'an’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. Austin 30, Xi'an 4: Austin leads by 26 points.
Food & drink. Austin 66, Xi'an 70: Xi'an leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Austin 40, Xi'an 81: Xi'an leads by 41 points.
Nightlife. Austin 65, Xi'an 42: Austin leads by 23 points.
Nature & outdoors. Austin 57, Xi'an 62: Xi'an leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Austin 58, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Austin 55, Xi'an 48: Austin leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Austin 30, Xi'an 66: Xi'an leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Austin 45, Xi'an 50: Xi'an leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Austin 33, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 47 points.
Live music & performing arts. Austin 77, Xi'an 40: Austin leads by 37 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Austin and Xi'an are level on 40.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Austin and Xi'an.

Your match

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

Austin
50match

Wins on live music and the arts and beaches with your weighting.

Xi'an
Best match
55match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Austin in July

36 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
49 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Xi'an in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
96 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AustinXi'an

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Austin: 1991-2020 normals, Camp Mabry/Austin City Asos (3.7 km from centre). Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAustinXi'an
Official language-Putonghua
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number911Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation149 m405 m
Main airportAustin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)13 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureAustinXi'an
City population961,85512,952,907
People per km²1,2171,283
Museums within 10 km219
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Austin or Xi'an 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. 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. 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.