VacationSelector
The CEC Palace on Calea Victoriei, Bucharest
BucharestThe CEC Palace on Calea Victoriei
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

Photos: Bucharest by Jorge Láscar, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Xi'an by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Bucharest 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 Bucharest for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • wellness

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

Choose Xi'an for

  • day trips
  • culture and sights
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Bucharest 8, Xi'an 4: Bucharest leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Bucharest 55, Xi'an 70: Xi'an leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Bucharest 58, Xi'an 81: Xi'an leads by 23 points.
Nightlife. Bucharest 70, Xi'an 42: Bucharest leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bucharest 45, Xi'an 62: Xi'an leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Bucharest 52, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Bucharest 52, Xi'an 48: Bucharest leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Bucharest 52, Xi'an 66: Xi'an leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Bucharest 45, Xi'an 50: Xi'an leads by 5 points.
Affordability. Bucharest 70, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bucharest 60, Xi'an 40: Bucharest leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bucharest 47, Xi'an 40: Bucharest leads by 7 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bucharest and Xi'an.

Your match

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

Bucharest
51match

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

Xi'an
Best match
55match

Wins on day trips 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.

Bucharest in July

30 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
68 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
15 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
BucharestXi'an

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bucharest: 1991-2020 normals, Bucuresti / Imh (10 km from centre). Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBucharestXi'an
Official languageRomanianPutonghua
CurrencyRomanian Leu (RON)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation70 m405 m
Main airportBucharest Henri Coandă International Airport (OTP)18 km from centre121 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureBucharestXi'an
City population1,716,96112,952,907
People per km²7,5971,283
Museums within 10 km419
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 Bucharest 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). 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.