VacationSelector
The Massachusetts State House, Boston
BostonThe Massachusetts State House
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

Photos: Boston by Ajay Suresh, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Xi'an by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Boston 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 Boston for

  • live music and the arts
  • beaches
  • families

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

Choose Xi'an for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • culture and sights

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. Boston 35, Xi'an 4: Boston leads by 31 points.
Food & drink. Boston 64, Xi'an 70: Xi'an leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Boston 72, Xi'an 81: Xi'an leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Boston 47, Xi'an 42: Boston leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Boston 60, Xi'an 62: Xi'an leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Boston 72, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Boston 72, Xi'an 48: Boston leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Boston 70, Xi'an 66: Boston leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Boston 55, Xi'an 50: Boston leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Boston 18, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 62 points.
Live music & performing arts. Boston 72, Xi'an 40: Boston leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Boston 30, Xi'an 40: Xi'an leads by 10 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Boston 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

Boston
56match

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

Xi'an
55match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Boston in July

28 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
18 °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

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
BostonXi'an

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Boston: 1991-2020 normals, Boston Logan International (3.5 km from centre). Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBostonXi'an
Official language-Putonghua
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number911Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation43 m405 m
Main airportBoston Logan International Airport (BOS)4 km from centre144 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureBostonXi'an
City population675,64712,952,907
People per km²2,9101,283
Museums within 10 km519
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Boston 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). 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.