VacationSelector
The Atomium, Brussels
BrusselsThe Atomium
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

Photos: Brussels by Ettanghe, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Xi'an by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Brussels 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 Brussels for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • beaches

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

Choose Xi'an for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • 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. Brussels 18, Xi'an 4: Brussels leads by 14 points.
Food & drink. Brussels 72, Xi'an 70: Brussels leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Brussels 74, Xi'an 81: Xi'an leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Brussels 60, Xi'an 42: Brussels leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Brussels 45, Xi'an 62: Xi'an leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Brussels 89, Xi'an 80: Brussels leads by 9 points.
Good for families. Brussels 60, Xi'an 48: Brussels leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Brussels 72, Xi'an 66: Brussels leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Brussels 62, Xi'an 50: Brussels leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Brussels 40, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Brussels 68, Xi'an 40: Brussels leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Brussels 33, Xi'an 40: Xi'an leads by 7 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Brussels
Best match
58match

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

Xi'an
55match

Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Brussels in July

23 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
80 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 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

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
BrusselsXi'an

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Brussels: 1991-2020 normals, Uccle (5.2 km from centre). Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBrusselsXi'an
Official languageFrench, German, DutchPutonghua
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
Elevation70 m405 m
Main airportBrussels Airport (BRU)11 km from centre191 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureBrusselsXi'an
City population195,54612,952,907
People per km²5,9081,283
Museums within 10 km1069
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km102

Where else could you go?

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