VacationSelector
The Hôtel du Palais, Biarritz
BiarritzThe Hôtel du Palais
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

Photos: Biarritz by Lilipiapia, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Xi'an by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Biarritz 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 Biarritz for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • families

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

Choose Xi'an for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • food and drink

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. Biarritz 68, Xi'an 4: Biarritz leads by 64 points.
Food & drink. Biarritz 62, Xi'an 70: Xi'an leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Biarritz 33, Xi'an 81: Xi'an leads by 48 points.
Nightlife. Biarritz 36, Xi'an 42: Xi'an leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Biarritz 74, Xi'an 62: Biarritz leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Biarritz and Xi'an are level on 80.
Good for families. Biarritz 62, Xi'an 48: Biarritz leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Biarritz 58, Xi'an 66: Xi'an leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Biarritz 42, Xi'an 50: Xi'an leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Biarritz 30, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 50 points.
Live music & performing arts. Biarritz 38, Xi'an 40: Xi'an leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Biarritz 64, Xi'an 40: Biarritz leads by 24 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Biarritz and Xi'an.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Biarritz
54match

Wins on beaches and wellness with your weighting.

Xi'an
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.

Biarritz in July

24 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
97 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Xi'an in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
96 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
BiarritzXi'an

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Biarritz: 1999-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Biarritz (2.5 km from centre). Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBiarritzXi'an
Official languageFrenchPutonghua
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation0 m405 m
Main airportBiarritz Pays Basque airport (BIQ)3 km from centre25 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureBiarritzXi'an
City population26,20612,952,907
People per km²2,2401,283
Museums within 10 km89
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Biarritz 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.